Perceived Stress Profiles, College Adjustment, and Well-being among Freshman in China: A Latent Profile Analysis
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic poses a major challenge for freshmen’ learning and has become a potential stressor, with a profound influence on their college adjustment and well-being. We aimed to determine the effect of perceived stress under the current pandemic on undergraduate freshmen’ subject well-being, psychological well-being, and college adjustment. A sample of 909 participants from a Chinese college completed the questionnaires online. We found three distinct profiles of perceived stress: high perceived stress (HPSS), moderate perceived stress (MPSS), and low perceived stress (LPSS). College adjustment and well-being (subject well-being and psychological well-being) were significantly different across the three PSS profiles, with LPSS individuals adjusting the best to college adjustment and having the highest well-being, whereas HPSS individuals adjusted the worst to college adjustment and had the lowest well-being. These findings provide insight into how perceived stress impacts college adjustment and well-being and have implications for the development and assessment of perceived stress-based interventions. Our results could help universities identify systemic and individualized strategies to facilitate students' college adjustment and well-being in this era of challenges and uncertainties.
