The association between perceived discrimination profiles and mental health among college students with hearing impairment in China: evidence from a latent profile analysis

Background College students with hearing impairment are at increased risk of mental health problems due to communication barriers, limited social support, and adaptation challenges. Although perceived discrimination is closely related to mental health, less is known about whether subgroups characterized by different levels of perceived discrimination can be identified. This study aimed to identify perceived discrimination subgroups, compare mental health across subgroups, and examine demographic factors associated with subgroup membership. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among college students with hearing impairment recruited from 21 universities across 17 provinces and municipalities in China. Of the 1,151 questionnaires collected, 1,068 valid responses were included in the analysis, including 566 male students (53.0%; mean age = 20.13 years, SD = 0.90) and 502 female students (47.0%; mean age = 20.43 years, SD = 0.94). Participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the six-item Perceived Discrimination Scale, and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. Latent profile analysis was used to identify subgroups based on individual- and group-level perceived discrimination. The Bolck-Croon-Hagenaars method was applied to compare mental health problems across subgroups, and multinomial logistic regression was conducted to examine demographic factors associated with subgroup membership. Results A three-class solution was selected as the most parsimonious and interpretable model, identifying subgroups characterized by low (28.6%), moderate (48.6%), and high (22.8%) levels of perceived discrimination. Individual- and group-level perceived discrimination increased in parallel across subgroups, indicating that the identified classes primarily reflected differences in the overall severity of perceived discrimination rather than qualitatively distinct configurations. Significant differences in subgroup membership were found by gender, peer type, and number of children in the family. Mental health problems differed significantly across the three subgroups, with the high perceived discrimination group reporting the most severe problems, followed by the moderate perceived discrimination group, and the low perceived discrimination group reporting the fewest. Conclusion College students with hearing impairment can be differentiated into subgroups characterized by low, moderate, and high levels of perceived discrimination. These subgroups were associated with different levels of mental health problems, highlighting the potential value of identifying students with elevated perceived discrimination for targeted mental health support.