College students’ resilience-promoting behaviors and psychological well-being: A latent class analysis

Abstract

Abstract Background and objectives Interventions to mitigate the negative impact of stress on college students through resilience-building strategies are attracting considerable interest; however, there has been little discussion regarding the strategies college students readily use to build their resilience. This study (1) describes and identifies patterns of college students’ resilience-promoting behaviors and (2) examines the relationships of resilience-promoting strategies with trait resilience and well-being. Design and methods Data were collected via an anonymous online survey from a sample of 774 college students ages 18–26 in April 2021. A series of Latent Class Analyses Models and Latent Class with Distal Outcomes models were used to identify resilience-building profiles, and if the latent classes identified by the latent class model differed in the levels of resilience level and well-being. Results Three distinct groups were identified based on students’ strategy profiles: (1) “all-strategies” group used all strategies on the survey, (2) “self-care” group used self-care strategies but less relational/mental strategies, and (3) “low-adoption” group used few resilience-promoting strategies. The “low-adoption” group was significantly lower in trait resilience and well-being compared to the other two groups. Conclusions Understanding preferred resilience strategies and resilience profiles of young adult college students can assist universities in planning health promotion programs to address student needs.