Are There Different Types of Well-Being for College Students? A Latent Class Analysis

• In Event: Analyzing Survey Data in Education Research

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to investigate heterogeneous types of wellbeing for college students through an application of latent class analysis (LCA) using a national administration of the Wellbeing Assessment survey (N=11920). The LCA identified at least six different subtypes of wellbeing for college students: At-risk (5.27%), Struggling (9.65%), Promising (12.97%), Disengaged (13.69%), Thriving (26.92%) and Flat (31.84%). Student background characteristics included gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and parental education levels, many of which significantly affected subtype membership. These wellbeing subtypes may facilitate development of more effective and efficient wellbeing programming. Because these subtypes are built on a broad conceptualization of wellbeing, they allow for the inclusion of multidisciplinary stakeholders in the creation and dissemination of those supports.

Authors

• Xinyu Ni, Wake Forest University

• Nicole Brocato, Wake Forest University