Latent Profile Analysis of Identity Dimensions and ‎Relationship with Satisfaction of Life among Undergraduate ‎Students

As the youth period extends, numerous students are involved with various issues in the identity process which affects diverse aspects of their life satisfaction. This research was conducted to analyze the latent profile of undergraduate students' identity dimensions and their relationship with their life satisfaction.
The method of this study was a descriptive-correlation type of latent profiles analysis using MPLUS software. MPLUS is a latent variable modeling program that reduces continuous or categorical variables to limited subgroups. Likewise, the one-way ANOVA method was used to compare students' life satisfaction among latent clusters. The statistical population of the research was all undergraduate students of Tabriz University and 375 of these students were selected as a sample using a multi-stage cluster random sampling method. Data were collected using Scales of Saffarinia and Roshan's Social Identity (2010), Bell's Religious Identity (2009), Aquino and Reed's Moral Identity (2002), and Satisfaction with Life of Diener et al. (1985).
The results of the latent profiles analysis led to the identification of six identity profiles, and the results of the variance analysis revealed that the life satisfaction of students according to the identity dimensions is different (P<0.01), in such a way that the achieved identity cluster had the highest and the diffusion identity cluster, had the lowest level of life satisfaction.
Using the person-centered approach, the results of the research offer a new perspective for understanding the identity dimensions of students, which can predict life satisfaction and provide interventions according to each identity dimension.