Associations Between Smartphone Addiction and Physical Education Learning Engagement Among Chinese University Students: A Variable-Centered and Person-Centered Analysis

Smartphone addiction is increasingly prevalent among university students, yet its association with physical education learning engagement remains underexplored. This study investigated the relationship between smartphone addiction and physical education learning engagement using variable-centered and person-centered approaches, and further examined the serial indirect association involving self-esteem and physical activity participation. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 2118 university students in Jiangxi Province, China. Participants completed measures of smartphone addiction, self-esteem, physical activity participation, and physical education learning engagement. Pearson correlations, multiple regression analyses, and analyses of indirect associations with bias-corrected bootstrapping were performed in SPSS, and latent profile analysis was conducted in Mplus. Smartphone addiction was negatively associated with self-esteem (β = −0.446, p < 0.001), physical activity participation (β = −0.231, p < 0.001), and physical education learning engagement (β = −0.152, p < 0.001). Self-esteem and physical activity participation showed significant indirect associations in the relationship between smartphone addiction and physical education learning engagement, including a significant serial indirect association through both variables. Person-centered analyses identified three smartphone addiction profiles, namely a low-smartphone-addiction group, moderate-smartphone-addiction group, and high-smartphone-addiction group, accounting for 22.10%, 44.24%, and 33.66% of the sample, respectively. Significant gradient differences were observed across these profiles in self-esteem, physical activity participation, and physical education learning engagement. Smartphone addiction was negatively associated with physical education learning engagement among university students, both directly and indirectly through self-esteem and physical activity participation. Distinct smartphone addiction profiles were also identified, with corresponding differences in psychological and behavioral characteristics. Given the cross-sectional and self-report design, the findings should be interpreted as correlational rather than causal.