Uncovering Latent Structures of School Belonging, Emotional Problems, Psychological Symptoms, Meaningful School, and Ostracism: A Latent Profile Analysis

Abstract

Background Despite increasing interest in school belonging, few studies have applied person-centered approaches to explore how emotional and psychological factors interact within adolescent populations. This study aimed to identify latent profiles of adolescents based on their experiences of school belonging, emotional problems, psychological symptoms, meaningful school engagement, and ostracism.Method A multidimensional construct was developed, incorporating indicators such as ignorance, exclusion, somatization, depression, anxiety, purpose enjoyment, responsible understanding, and prosociality. A convenience sample of 749 adolescents (64.4% female; Mage = 15.27, SD = 1.25) was recruited. Latent profile analysis was conducted to uncover distinct student profiles.Results Four profiles emerged: (1) Distressed but Included-high emotional problems despite near-average ostracism; (2) Adaptive and Successful-high meaningful school engagement and prosociality with low emotional problems; (3) Balanced and Typical-normative levels across all indicators; and (4) Ostracized with Psychological Risk-the highest levels of ostracism and emotional problems.Conclusion School belonging plays a critical role in identifying psychological risk and resilience among adolescents. Latent profile analysis offers a nuanced framework for developing targeted interventions to support students' emotional and social well-being.