Uso problemático de TikTok y ansiedad ante los exámenes en estudiantes de Educación General Básica Superior.

Short-video platforms are part of adolescents’ digital practices, but their use in school settings cannot be assessed solely in terms of exposure time. This study aimed to characterize the descriptive profile of problematic TikTok use and test anxiety among students in Upper Basic General Education. A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional, and descriptive study was conducted with 428 students from Guayaquil, Ecuador, with a mean age of 12.80 years. Problematic TikTok use was examined using the TikTok Addiction Scale (TTAS), which comprises 15 items across six dimensions; test anxiety was assessed using the CAEX-A, consisting of 37 items distributed across physiological, cognitive, and avoidance dimensions. The retained datasets contained aggregated values at the item level. Accordingly, dimensional correspondence was reviewed, scores were recalculated, and the resulting profiles were compared descriptively. The TTAS yielded an aggregate score of 3.87 out of 5, with the highest values observed for withdrawal and relapse, both at 4.50, followed by conflict at 4.25. The CAEX-A yielded an aggregate score of 98 out of 148. When its dimensions were compared using the mean score per item, avoidance had the highest value at 3.33 out of 4, followed by cognition at 2.71 and physiological response at 2.50. These scores describe the internal profile of each instrument; however, the absence of individual-level responses precluded determining whether the two phenomena were associated among the students.