A Cross-lagged Panel Model on Smartphone Addiction of Middle School Students Based on Mplus8.0 Software

In the context of increasing smartphone addiction among adolescents, this study aims to investigate what psychological needs smartphone addiction stems from to develop effective educational measures. Longitudinal questionnaire data from 337 junior high school students at the 6-month interval were analyzed using Mplus8.0 statistical modeling program software. The results showed that smartphone addiction among middle school students is related to their unmet inner needs for autonomy, competence, relatedness; Middle school students' smartphone addiction stems from a lack of internal competence but overusing their phones does not increase their sense of competence, despite its ability to enhance a sense of belonging. Therefore, prevention and intervention of smartphone addiction among middle school students should focus on the satisfaction of competence needs and create opportunities for students to demonstrate their abilities.