Embracing the Ebb and Flow of Life: A Latent Profile Analysis of Impermanence and its Association with Mental Health Outcomes Among Chinese University Students

There are inconsistent findings about the relationship between impermanence and psychological health. In order to gain a deeper understanding of this relationship, the present study utilized a person-centered approach to investigate the interplay between awareness and acceptance of impermanence and its impact on mental health outcomes.

A total of 433 Chinese university students (73.2% female; age M = 19.73 years, SD = 1.90) completed a battery of measures on impermanence awareness and acceptance, anxiety, depression, everyday stress, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and life satisfaction. To identify profiles of impermanence, latent profile analysis was performed using the item scores from the Impermanence Awareness and Acceptance Scale.

Three profiles were identified: (1) Neutral Stance of Impermanence (NSI; 32.8%), (2) High Awareness and Acceptance (HAA; 16.9%), and (3) High Awareness Without Acceptance (HAWA; 50.3%). The HAWA profile had the highest levels of anxiety, depression, everyday stress, posttraumatic stress disorder among three profiles, followed by the NSI and HAA profile, respectively. In addition, the HAWA profile had lower levels of life satisfaction compared to the HAA profile, but the HAWA and HAA profiles did not have significant difference in life satisfaction when comparing with the NSI profile.

The HAWA and HAA profiles had the highest and lowest risk of mental health problems, respectively. The findings of this study significantly enhance our understanding of the different group types among Chinese university students who embrace the perspective of impermanence, as well as their relationships with various psychological outcomes.