Using Latent Profile Analysis to Harness the Heterogeneity of Nonretained College Students

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-473
Author(s):  
Tracey N. Sulak ◽  
Jennifer Massey ◽  
David Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Latent Profile Analysis ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Private Research ◽  
Key Variables ◽  
The University ◽  
Latent Profile

Universities struggle to raise retention rates among first-year students. Traditional analyses have not only focused on large-scale issues and addressed the needs of the majority but also done little to change overall retention numbers. The current study demonstrates the benefit of using a person-centered approach to retention research. Latent profile analysis was used to examine all nonretained, first-year students ( n = 515) from the 2011 cohort at a private, research-intensive university. The larger population of nonretained first-year students appeared to contain several smaller, subpopulations, and these smaller groups differed on key variables collected by the university. The differences in the subpopulations indicate a need for greater specificity in retention programming.

scholarly journals First-Year Students’ Time Use in College: A Latent Profile Analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (7) ◽  
pp. 958-978 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Fosnacht ◽  
Alexander C. McCormick ◽  
Rosemarie Lerma
Keyword(s):  
Time Use ◽  
Latent Profile Analysis ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Latent Profile

scholarly journals A latent profile analysis of first-year university students’ academic expectations

2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra M. Araújo ◽  
Cristiano Mauro Assis Gomes ◽  
Leandro S. Almeida ◽  
Jose Carlos Núñez
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Social Interaction ◽  
Latent Profile Analysis ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
First Year ◽  
Academic Expectations ◽  
Social Pressures ◽  
Latent Profile

Academic expectations are an important variable in the explanation of adaptation and academic success in higher education. This paper uses latent profile analysis as a person-centered statistical approach to classify students into groups of similar types of expectations for higher education, at the beginning of the first year in university. Participants were 2,478 first-year Portuguese students. Based on the scores of seven dimensions of expectations, we identified six classes of students. Most students (84%) presented moderate levels of expectations, while 8% and 4%, respectively, reported very high and low expectations. One class represented a group of students (4%) with high expectations for the quality of education and for political engagement and citizenship and lower expectations for social interaction and attending to social pressures. Male and older students showed more positive expectations. Students from privileged family backgrounds are more likely to present higher expectations for political engagement and citizenship experiences, and lower expectations for social interaction and leisure and attending to social pressures. Keywords: latent profile analysis; person-centered; expectations; higher education; first-year students

scholarly journals Identifying Distinct Patterns of Social Media Usage During the Transition into College as Predictors of First-Year Alcohol Use and Consequences: A Latent Profile Analysis

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bradley Trager ◽  
Reed M Morgan ◽  
Sarah C Boyle ◽  
Francisco Montiel Ishino ◽  
Joseph LaBrie
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
College Transition ◽  
Latent Profile Analysis ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
First Year ◽  
Risky Drinking ◽  
User Behaviors ◽  
Low Alcohol ◽  
Latent Profile

Social media (SM) users are a combination of several behaviors across platforms. Patterns of SM use across platforms may be a better indicator of risky drinking than individual behaviors or sets of behaviors examined previously. This longitudinal study addressed this gap in the literature using latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify subpopulations of SM users during the college transition (N=319). Indicators included in the LPA were general SM (checking, time spent, and posting to Instagram/Facebook/Snapchat; Finstagram ownership) and alcohol-related posting (alcohol, partying, and marijuana content) behaviors. LPA results revealed three SM user subpopulations at baseline: low general use with low alcohol-related posting (LGU+LAP), and high general use with low alcohol-related posting (HGU+LAP) or high alcohol-related posting (HGU+HAP). Baseline drinking, injunctive norms, and alcohol beliefs were associated with greater odds of HGU+HAP membership. Prospective analyses revealed that HGU+HAP was associated with greater alcohol use and consequences relative to HGU+LAP and LGU+LAP. Results suggest that there are distinct patterns of SM use during the college transition associated with risky drinking that can inform interventions combating SM-related alcohol risks. These findings also illustrate the importance of analyzing multiple SM user behaviors across multiple platforms simultaneously in future studies.

Variants of Psychopathy in Chinese Juvenile Offenders: A Latent Profile Analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 009385482110431
Author(s):  
Meng-Cheng Wang ◽  
Xintong Zhang ◽  
Jie Gong ◽  
Jiaxin Deng ◽  
Jie Luo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Offenders ◽  
Latent Profile Analysis ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Cognitive Empathy ◽  
Affective Empathy ◽  
Latent Profile Analyses ◽  
Key Variables ◽  
Mean Differences ◽  
Latent Profile

Despite considerable understanding on the psychopathy subtypes in detained populations, the variants of psychopathy in non-Western populations are less well understood. To address this gap, the present study conducted a series of latent profile analyses with the factors of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory, childhood trauma, and trait anxiety in 560 Chinese incarcerated boys ( Mage = 16.92, SD = 0.81). Four subgroups emerged: relatively normal (67.3%); callous, psychopathy-like (2.8%); moderate psychopathy-like (24.8%); and high traumatic, moderate psychopathy-like (5.1%). Moreover, the modified Bolck–Croon–Hagenaars method was used to examine the significant mean differences on covariates across profiles, including proactive aggression, reactive aggression, affective empathy, and cognitive empathy. Results showed that the psychopathic profiles displayed differences on key variables. The callous, psychopathy-like group endorsed higher aggression and lower empathy. This study provides initial empirical support for the existence of psychopathy variants and enhances the understanding of the psychopathic construct in non-Western cultures.

scholarly journals Classification of probable online social networking addiction: A latent profile analysis from a large-scale survey among Chinese adolescents

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 698-708
Author(s):  
Ji-Bin Li ◽  
Anise M.S. Wu ◽  
Li-Fen Feng ◽  
Yang Deng ◽  
Jing-Hua Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Networking ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Latent Profile Analysis ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
Chinese Adolescents ◽  
Screening Tools ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Online Social Networking ◽  
Average Risk ◽  
Latent Profile

AbstractBackground and aimsProblematic online social networking use is prevalent among adolescents, but consensus about the instruments and their optimal cut-off points is lacking. This study derived an optimal cut-off point for the validated Online Social Networking Addiction (OSNA) scale to identify probable OSNA cases among Chinese adolescents.MethodsA survey recruited 4,951 adolescent online social networking users. Latent profile analysis (LPA) and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analyses were applied to the validated 8-item OSNA scale to determine its optimal cut-off point.ResultsThe 3-class model was selected by multiple criteria, and validated in a randomly split-half subsample. Accordingly, participants were categorized into the low risk (36.4%), average risk (50.4%), and high risk (13.2%) groups. The highest risk group was regarded as “cases” and the rest as “non-cases”, serving as the reference standard in ROC analysis, which identified an optimal cut-off point of 23 (sensitivity: 97.2%, specificity: 95.2%). The cut-off point was used to classify participants into positive (probable case: 17:0%) and negative groups according to their OSNA scores. The positive group (probable cases) reported significantly longer duration and higher intensity of online social networking use, and higher prevalence of Internet addiction than the negative group.ConclusionsThe classification strategy and results are potentially useful for future research that measure problematic online social networking use and its impact on health among adolescents. The approach can facilitate research that requires cut-off points of screening tools but gold standards are unavailable.

scholarly journals The interplay of personal and contextual diversity during the first year at Higher Education: Combining a quantitative and a qualitative approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 50-77
Author(s):  
Tobias Jenert ◽  
Taiga Brahm
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Latent Profile Analysis ◽  
Profile Analysis ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
First Year ◽  
Contextual Diversity ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Contextual Differences

Research on student transition into Higher Education (HE) has taken different theoretical perspectives. First, studies investigated personal variables such as students´ self-efficacy, emotions and motivation regarding the transition from school to HE. A second strand of research focused on contextual variables, for instance college effectiveness research. With this paper, we combine both the personal and the contextual approach. We aim to investigate the interaction between personal and contextual diversity during the transition into HE, taking into account students’ diversity in particular with regard to gender and individual characteristics, such as self-efficacy. We explored the heterogeneity in students’ personal characteristics by conducting a latent profile analysis (LPA) based on students’ intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy and anxiety before entering Higher Education. LPA resulted in three distinct profiles, with significant differences in how students perceived the first year. This finding suggests that students’ personal characteristics when entering Higher Education influence how they experience the study environment. To investigate the interplay between individual and contextual differences in more detail, we conducted a qualitative longitudinal study with 14 first-year students in parallel with the panel survey. We found that individual students react very differently to specific characteristics and events of the first-year environment. Our study adds to the growing body of research that aims to grasp the complexity of interactions between individual and contextual differences. Specifically, we illustrate how combining quantitative and qualitative methods can provide new insights into person-context interactions.

scholarly journals Sharing learning outcomes in chemistry teaching at HE level: Beneficial or detrimental?

2011 ◽  
pp. 31-35
Author(s):  
David Read ◽  
Joanne Boniface ◽  
Andrea E Russell
Keyword(s):  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Good Practice ◽  
Retention Rates ◽  
First Year ◽  
Chemistry Teaching ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
University Level ◽  
The University ◽  
Support Students ◽  
Academic Year

The sharing of explicit learning objectives and/or learning outcomes is considered to be good practice in schools, with OFSTED observation criteria indicating that this is a pre-requisite to a good or outstanding lesson1. Such practice does not appear to be widespread in chemistry teaching at HE level. Whilst a statement of aims/objectives/outcomes can normally be found in the documentation accompanying any given unit of teaching, these are typically in a less student-friendly format than those used in school, or are too vague to be useful. At the same time, many lecturers do communicate aims at the start of a lecture, but there may be scope for doing this in a more effective way. The extent to which students are exposed to „learning outcomes‟ varies greatly from institution to institution, discipline to discipline and from teacher to teacher, and as such it is difficult to discern the best approach.This article presents some background on developments at pre-university level that have influenced practice in this area, and outlines the findings of a research project carried out in the School of Chemistry at the University of Southampton. The project probed the views of staff and students regarding the usefulness of learning outcomes. Several different approaches to sharing learning outcomes with first year students were trialled and evaluated during the course of the 2010-11 academic year. This work is part of an on-going initiative which aims to identify effective methods to support students in becoming independent learners when making the transition to university, and to improve retention rates.

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