Objective: To explore the latent categories and general demographic characteristics of short form video addiction among college students, so as to provide empirical reference for prevention and intervention of short form video addiction among college students. Methods: Convenience sampling method was used to select 1 386 college students from a certain university in Anhui Province in June 2023. A questionnaire survey was conducted among college students by using the Short Video Addiction Scale. The latent profile analysis method of "individual center" was used to explore the categories of college students short form video addiction, and multiple Logistic regression was used to explore the influence of demographic variables on the latent classification of short form video addiction. Results: College students with short form video addiction were divided into three latent categories:non addiction group (22.15%, n =307), low addiction group (63.28%, n =877) and high addiction group (14.57%, n =202). The results of multiple Logistic regression analysis showed that gender, major type and family location were related with short form video addiction among college students:male students (low addiction group: OR =0.47; high addiction group: OR =0.41), cultural and historical majors (low addiction group: OR =0.66), and students from cities (high addiction group: OR =0.51) were less likely to be involved in short form video addiction ( P <0.05). Conclusions There is significant group heterogeneity in short form video addiction among college students. Families, schools and society should attach importance and pay attention to the phenomenon of short form video addiction among college students, actively take targeted intervention measures to prevent and reduce the occurrence of short form video addiction symptoms among college students.