A latent profile analysis of at-risk first-year undergraduate students

Abstract

Objective: We examined whether meaningful subgroups of self-injurious behaviors (SIBs) would emerge within a pool of first-year college students already deemed at elevated risk. Participants: First-year undergraduates (N = 1,068) recruited in 2015–2018 Fall terms. Methods: Past-year nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) frequency, past-year number of NSSI methods used, lifetime suicide attempt (SA) history, and recency of SA were included in a latent profile analysis. Results: Four subgroups emerged: low SIB (n = 558, 52%), high NSSI only (n = 182, 17%), high SIB (n = 141, 13%), and high SA only (n = 187, 18%). Students in the high SIB group reported higher levels of suicidal ideation at baseline and follow-up in comparison to all groups. Those in the high NSSI only or high SIB groups had relatively higher levels of NSSI at baseline and follow-up. Conclusions: Findings highlight the amount of heterogeneity within a high-risk group, along with the importance of considering distal and proximal SIBs in university screening efforts.

Keywords:

• Latent profile analysis
• longitudinal
• nonsuicidal self-injury
• suicidal ideation
• suicidal behavior

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Michigan.

Data availability statement

Data available upon reasonable request from author Cheryl A. King.

Notes

1 Due to low frequency of past-month suicide attempts (n = 4), past-month attempts were included with past 12-month attempts.

2 Multicollinearity between variables included in the LPA was assessed with the variance inflation factor (VIF). All values fell below 5 (all VIF < 4.00), indicating limited issues due to multicollinearity.

3 Models with depression scores were examined two ways: PHQ-9 including suicidal ideation and PHQ9 excluding suicidal ideation. No differences were found in the results. Models with PHQ-9 including ideation were reported.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health Grant R01 MH103244 (C. A. King).