Latent profiles of stress and their relationships with depression and problematic Internet use among college freshmen

As noted in previously published literature, college students frequently experience academic stress, financial stress, and the stresses caused by intimate, peer, and parent-adolescent relationships. The present study uses latent profile analysis to identify stress profiles based on the aforementioned five stressors among 430 college freshmen. Thereafter, we compare the levels of depression and problematic Internet use (PIU) among the different profile groups and investigate whether background variables could predict each latent stress group. Three latent groups were labelled as follows: Ordinary (n = 257, 59.77%); all moderate-high (n = 98, 22.79%); and college-life moderate-high (n = 75, 17.44%). Compared with the ordinary group, the all moderate-high and college-life moderate-high groups displayed significantly higher levels of depression. Moreover, the all moderate-high group had a severer level of PIU than the college-life moderate-high and ordinary groups. Interestingly, males and students who were dating were more likely to fall under the all moderate-high group than the college-life moderate-high group; but students who were more concerned with their academic performance were more likely to fall under the college-life moderate-high group than the all moderate-high group. These findings have important implications for college educators and school counsellors with regard to developing appropriate interventions as required.