Abstract
This study explores patterns of internet combination use based on diverse combined needs and their impact on problem behaviors after one year. A total of 7,882 Chinese college students (35.2% male) reported their internet use and problem behaviors in two waves. Five patterns of internet combination use were identified through latent profile analysis: low-intensity use (8.79%), high-intensity social media use (7.17%), moderate-intensity use (36.37%), low-intensity online games use (21.4%), and high-intensity use (26.27%). Among these, moderate-intensity and high-intensity users were more prevalent among college students. Higher levels of internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors were observed in patterns of high-intensity use, low-intensity online games use, and moderate-intensity use. These findings highlight the heterogeneity of internet combination use that varies according to internet use needs, and the relationships between different patterns of internet combination use and problem behaviors one year later. Early identification of patterns of internet combination use could be a crucial component of effective strategies to prevent problem behaviors in college students. It is beneficial to understanding their purposes or needs of internet use and helping them effectively identifing the risks of certain internet use patterns, rather than merely focusing on the duration of online engagement.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to the privacy of participants but available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Funding
This study was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2022CDJSKZX07), Project of Chongqing Municipal Programs for Social Science (2021ZTZD10), Project of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of Science and Technology(cstc202ljsyj-zzysbAX0076), College Ideological and Political Work Cultivation Project of the Ministry of Education (ISZS2021-2) Project of the China Association of Higher Education (2020FDD07)Projects of the Chongqing Municipal Education Commission of China(19SKZDZX13 and 19SKSZ001), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2018CDJSK01XK04), and Project of Chongqing Graduate Teaching Reform(yjg242003).
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Yanjie Shan, Yadong Sun contributed to the article’s conceptualization, methodology, software, data curation, validation, formal analysis, visualization, writing of the original draft, and editing & reviewing the final draft. Jiaqiong Xie, Ting Li contributed to the article’s methodology, investigation, and editing & reviewing the final draft. Ke Chen contributed to the article’s conceptualization, supervison, funding acquisition, projest administration, resources, and editing & reviewing the final draft. The authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Shan, Y., Sun, Y., Xie, J. et al. Latent profile analysis of internet combination use among Chinese college students and longitudinal association with problem behaviors: A two-wave longitudinal study. Curr Psychol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-025-08437-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-025-08437-z