Open Access

ARTICLE

Moral Disengagement, Preference for Solitude, and Demographic Factors as Predictors of Aggressive Behavior Categorized by Latent Profile Analysis in Chinese Rural Boarding Junior High School Students

Yatong Li¹, Wangqin Hu^2,*

1 School of Basic Medical Sciences, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, 611137, China
2 School of Psychology, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, 321004, China

* Corresponding Author: Wangqin Hu. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Latent Profile Analysis in Mental Health Research: Exploring Heterogeneity through Person Centric Approach)

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2025, 27(9), 1383-1398. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2025.066974

Received 22 April 2025; Accepted 20 August 2025; Issue published 30 September 2025

Abstract

Objectives: Adolescents’ aggression is widely studied, the underlying heterogeneity of aggression among rural Chinese boarding students remains unexplored. This study investigates the latent profiles of Chinese rural boarding junior high school students’ aggression and its correlations with moral disengagement and preference for solitude. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from 04–22 April 2022, using a convenient sampling method among 516 junior high school students from six Chinese rural boarding schools. The survey included the Aggression Questionnaire, the Moral Disengagement Scale (MDS), and the Preference for Solitude Scale (PSS). Results: Participants were divided into three latent profiles: low (36.0%), medium (50.9%), and high aggression levels (13.1%). Compared with low aggression, students who felt left-behind (minors who stay in the rural areas while one or both parents migrated to the urban areas for the work) accounted for a larger proportion in the medium aggression profile. The higher the grade level and the lower the educational level of the students’ parents, the greater proportion of students in the medium and high aggression profiles. Additionally, students with high moral disengagement and preference for solitude showed a significant association with the medium aggression and high aggression profiles. Conclusions: The results demonstrate the significant group heterogeneity of aggression groups in Chinese rural boarding junior high school students. Targeted prevention and intervention measures can be carried out according to feeling left-behind, grade level, parents’ education, and MDS and PSS scores.

---

Keywords

---