Relationship Between Freshmen’s Psychological Health and Family Economic Status in Chinese Universities: A Latent Profile Analysis

Abstract

Purpose With the rapid social changes, psychological health problems among freshmen in universities have become increasingly serious. Many researchers have studied the psychological health status of college freshmen using quantitative methods. However, most researchers have studied the psychological health of college freshmen by treating variables as the central concept and analysis unit, which has limitations on the variable-centered research method. Therefore, this study aims to explore the impact of family economic status and demographic variables on the psychological health of college freshmen, as well as the potential types of psychological health among college freshmen. Methods Based on the SCL-90 and the self-evaluation of the family economic status of college freshmen, latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to analyze the psychological health of 1497 college freshmen selected through a whole-group sampling method. Freshmen completed the questionnaire from October 18 to October 20, 2022. Then, multinomial logistic regression analysis and variance analysis were conducted using SPSS 25.0 to analyze the impact of family economic status and demographic variables on different psychological health subtypes of college freshmen from a university in Eastern China. Results There is obvious heterogeneity in the psychological health of college freshmen, which can be divided into three groups: psychological health group (69.54%), psychological distress group (24.65%), and psychological risk group (5.81%). The latent categories of psychological health among college freshmen differ by gender and family economic status. The psychological health status of female students is significantly better than that of male students. In addition, the lower the self-evaluation of family economic status of college freshmen, the lower their psychological health level. Conclusion Three categories of mental health exist for college freshmen, with significant group heterogeneity. Gender and family economic status significantly influenced mental health outcomes with female students faring better. The study’s significance lies in providing useful recommendations for educational administrators and developing targeted interventions for college freshmen. Given the practical realities of mental health education efforts, personalized strategies that utilize peer support, counseling, and psychological services can be adopted to assist freshmen in acclimating to university life and maintaining mental wellness. The findings suggest considering the role of family economic status and gender in promoting mental health and the need for further research to develop comprehensive and effective interventions.

Middle school students’ psychological health on suicide ideation: based on latent profile analysis

“…Overall, the distribution of these types resembles a pyramid shape, with the psychological health type comprising the largest proportion, indicating that most students had good psychological health. However, the classification results for junior high school students are similar to those of Dong et al (25), while the psychological health status of senior high school students is more diverse. The scores of the "Highrisk type" among senior high school students are higher than those of the same category in the junior high school group, and the appearance of the "Medium-risk type" category is notable.…”

“…To better understand the specificity of psychological health and its related characteristics among middle school students, this study employs Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), a person-centered method, to unveil heterogeneity among individuals. Previous studies have used this method to explore the latent categories of psychological health, labeling them as the "Health Group, " "Distress Group" and "Risk Group" based on dimensional scores (25). However, the studies discussed freshmen at the university level, with minimal research focused on middle school students, necessitating further clarification.…”