Unveiling the Heterogeneity of Moderate Mental Health Among College Students Through Latent Profile Analysis: Implications for Intervention

The Dual Continua Model conceptualizes mental health as comprising emotional, social, and psychological dimensions of well-being. Based on this framework, individuals are categorized as flourishing (complete mental health), moderately mentally healthy (MMH), or languishing (poor mental health). Although MMH individuals represent the most frequent category across studies, little is known about potentially distinct well-being configuration patterns within this group. To address this issue, a study was conducted on data from 1,799 Italian university students. Based on their scores on the Mental Health Continuum–Short Form, 70.4% (n = 1,266) showed moderate mental health (MMH), 19.8% were flourishing, and 9.8% languishing. Latent Profile Analysis was performed on the MMH group, at the dimensional level of emotional, social, and psychological well-being, and subsequently at the single item level. Four distinct well-being profiles emerged from each analysis, revealing significant heterogeneity within the MMH category. Profiles primarily differed in social and psychological well-being, whereas emotional well-being showed higher uniformity. At the item level “Social Actualization” showed the largest variation across profiles, suggesting generational and societal concerns as key factors in youth mental health. This study contributes to expanding the Dual Continua Model by emphasizing complexity and diversity within the moderate mental health category. The findings suggest the potential of a more fine-grained understanding of MMH youth, to better identify their strengths and vulnerabilities and tailor support strategies accordingly.