Latent profiles of school belonging and campus climate among college students: Associations with mental health and self-injurious thoughts and behaviors.

Abstract

Objective: While school belonging and campus climate are critical to student well-being, the nuanced interplay between internal feelings of connection and external perceptions of the institutional environment remains underexplored. Participants: The analytic sample included 1,245 college students aged 18-29 years. Methods: Latent profile analysis (LPA) was conducted to identify subgroups based on school belonging and perceived campus climate. Results: This study identified three distinct latent profiles of college students based on their experiences of school belonging and perceived school climate: high belonging & high climate, moderate belonging & moderate climate, and moderate belonging & low climate. Further analysis examined how these profiles differ across mental health outcomes and self-injurious thoughts and behaviors. Conclusion: These findings suggest that mental health risks are non-linearly distributed across campus environments. Administrators must prioritize systemic, macro-level climate improvements and implement refined clinical screening to proactively identify and support hidden vulnerabilities within the "invisible middle."