Latent profile analysis and influencing factors of cognitive flexibility among Chinese high school students

With the advancement of research in educational psychology, cognitive flexibility (CF), as a pivotal ability that enables individuals to adapt to complex environments and tackle challenges, has garnered increasing attention from scholars. For high school students, there is a lack of research regarding latent profiles of cognitive flexibility and associated risk factors. To identify latent profiles of cognitive flexibility among high school students and develop targeted interventions. From August to October 2024, 1,014 high school students in Hebi City were surveyed using a comprehensive questionnaire incorporating the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory. Latent profile analysis was employed to identify subgroups of CF among students and a binary logistic regression model was used to analyze the associated influencing factors. The optimal cut-off value for grouping was determined by calculating the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area under curve. Results show that CF could be divided into 2 classes: class1 moderate-CF group (73.5%) and class2 high-CF group (26.5%). The results of the regression analysis indicated that male was a predictor of the high-CF group (OR = 1.414, 95% CI: 1.034-1.935). The higher aesthetic sensitivity and Proactive Personality Scale scores (OR = 1.774, 95% CI: 1.413-2.228; OR = 1.108, 95% CI: 1.080-1.137) were significantly more likely to be in the high-CF group. Additionally, students with a higher ease of excitation score (OR = 0.608, 95% CI: 0.502-0.736) were more likely to belong to the moderate-CF group. Based on the ROC, a cut-off value of 68.5 was established to identify the high-CF group, with sensitivity at 0.862 and specificity at 0.946. It is recommended that educational and mental health interventions focus on individual differences among students to comprehensively enhance cognitive flexibility and regulatory capacity.