Personality characteristics of Chinese adolescents with excessive screen time: A latent profile analysis

The use of digital technologies is inevitable in modern society, but their overuse is a problem that is worthy of public attention. This study explored the personality traits that cause proneness to excessive screen time, applying latent profile analysis to build personality profiles using the Big Five personality traits and assessing the psychological entitlement of 4,874 Chinese adolescents. We also constructed parallel mediation models to examine the mediating effect of psychological capital and life stress between different personality profiles and screentime duration. We identified three unique personality profiles, which showed that adolescents with more sociable and outgoing personality traits reported shorter daily screen times. Moreover, psychological capital mediated the link between personality profiles and screen time, although the mediating effect of life stress was nonsignificant. Our findings have implications for the formulation of target-specific interventions to reduce the daily screen time of adolescents and promote their overall well-being.