Psychosocial Resource‐Risk Profiles and Short‐Video Addiction Among Adolescents: A Latent Profile Analysis and the Mediating Role of Self‐Control
Xingsen Lu, Tianhan Jiang, Rong He, Huaqiang Liu, Qing Wang, Yibing Guo, Zhensong Lan, Wenxue GouBackground
Short‐video addiction among adolescents is a growing concern, yet previous studies have largely used variable‐centered approaches, overlooking individual heterogeneity in the co‐occurrence of risk and protective resources.
Aim
To identify distinct profiles of adolescents based on family economic level, academic burnout, parental control, subjective well‐being, and psychological capital and to test whether self‐control mediates the relationship between profile membership and short‐video addiction.
Methods
Cross‐sectional data from 1735 Chinese secondary school students (51.5% male) were analyzed using latent profile analysis (LPA), ANOVA, and mediation analysis with 5000 bootstrap resamples, controlling for grade, gender, and left‐behind status.
Results
Three profiles emerged: low‐resource/economic disadvantage (18.8%), moderate‐resource/typical (59.7%), and high‐resource/high‐burnout (21.5%). The low‐resource profile showed the highest short‐video addiction, whereas the high‐resource profile showed the lowest addiction ( F = 24.83, p < 0.001). Self‐control significantly mediated the difference between the high‐resource and low‐resource profiles (ind = −0.686, 95% CI [−0.964, −0.455]) but not between the moderate and low‐resource profiles.
Conclusion
Adolescents exhibit heterogeneous resource‐risk profiles. Even with high academic burnout, a high‐resource profile (strong psychological capital) protects against addiction through enhanced self‐control. Strengthening self‐control among economically disadvantaged youth may be a key prevention target.