Smartphone addiction, depression, distress, eustress, loneliness, and sleep deprivation in adolescents: a latent profile and network analysis approach.

Background: Previous research on adolescent smartphone addiction has tended to focus on general populations that are assumed to be homogeneous, overlooking latent profiles. Furthermore, previous research has not focused on potentially important differences in the latent profiles of adolescent smartphone addiction in networks. The present study aimed to reveal the latent profiles of smartphone addiction, depression, stress, eustress, loneliness, and sleep deprivation in adolescents, and general and latent profiles were examined in the network.

Methods: The study group consisted of 436 (222 boys and 214 girls) adolescents, aged between 13 and 18 years. The findings of the present study were provided using Pearson correlation, ANOVA, latent profile analysis and network analysis. The data were analyzed using SPSS, JASP, and Mplus.

Results: The results of the study showed solutions with three latent profiles. The non-addicted group constituted 20.87%, the addicted group covered 29.82% and the risky group included 49.31% of the study group. Although the general profile and the addicted latent group had similar characteristics, the differences in the risky and non-addicted groups contributed to the current literature by providing a further and remarkable perspective on smartphone addiction, depression, distress, eustress, loneliness, and sleep deprivation in adolescents.

Conclusions: The theoretical and practical implications of the present results will provide contributions to researchers and practitioners in understanding smartphone addiction.