Longitudinal Multivariate Profiling of Well-Being Among Chinese Freshmen

This research adopts a person-centered approach towards well-being, examining the heterogeneity in well-being profiles by simultaneously considering the longitudinal trajectories and multivariate compositions of well-being. Specifically, we measured subjective well-being (positive affect, negative affect, and satisfaction with life or SWL), vitality, and peace of mind (PoM) among 1050 Chinese college students, across six time points over their freshmen year. At the first time point, we also measured three sets of predictor variables: self-determination (“what” and why” of goal pursuit), basic psychological needs (autonomy, relatedness, competence, and inner compass), and positive individual differences (optimism, hope, grit, meaning, autonomous functioning, and personal growth initiative). Results from parallel-process latent class growth models supported five distinct profiles: Profile 1 Flourishing has high and improving levels of almost all well-being indicators; Profile 2 Moderate-converging has moderate levels of all well-being indicators, and a trend for satisfaction with life and vitality to converge towards the midpoint; Profile 3 Devoid is stably low on all well-being indicators; Profile 4 PoM-dominant is characterized by high levels of peace of mind; Profile 5 SWL-low features high well-being except for relatively low satisfaction with life. Multivariate logistic regression showed that predictors from all three sets had unique effects in predicting membership in well-being profiles. These results are among the first to uncover the longitudinal multivariate profiles of general well-being and the associated predictors. We also provide implications for differential interventions to improve well-being in student subpopulations, in contrast to the “one-size-fits-all” approach in traditional variable-centered research.