ObjectiveTo explore the characteristics and trends of potential suicide risk among college students in China, as well as the predictive factors for the potential suicide risk subgroups, in order to provide scientific basis for early identification and precise intervention of potential suicide risks.

MethodsFrom 2017 to 2021, a total of 14 653 undergraduate students were selected from 6 universities in Hubei Province through cluster sampling.Data were collected once a year in October after freshmen enrolled (a total of 5 times). Mplus 8.3 and SPSS 26.0 softwares were used for statistics.Latent profile analysis(LPA)was used to analyze the category characteristic of suicide risk in 5 dimensions, and multinomial logistic regression was constructed to analyze the gender and school year effects of suicide risk categories, as well as whether the differences in suicide risk would expand, decrease or maintain over time.

Results(1) According to the fitting indexes of the LPA, the potential suicide risk of college students could be divided into three heterogeneous categories, namely C1 low-risk group (75.6%), C2 helpless high-risk group (3.7%) and C3 personality high-risk group (20.7%). (2) The 2 high suicide risk groups (C2 and C3) had significant gender and grade effects.In terms of gender, female students were significantly less likely to be in the " C3 personality high-risk group" than male students.As the enrollment grade increased, the probability of entering the two high suicide risk groups showed an increasing trend.(3) Interpersonal sensitivity was a significant positive predictor of entry into the " C3 personality high-risk group" ( B=0.150, OR=1.162, 95% CI=1.140-1.185). Paranoid Ideation was a significant positive predictor of entry into the " C2 helpless high-risk group" ( B=0.103, OR=1.109, 95% CI=1.051-1.170). Phobic anxiety was a significant negative predictor of entry into both the " C2 helpless high-risk group" ( B=-0.041, OR=0.976, 95% CI=0.937-1.016)and the " C3 personality high-risk group" ( B=-0.031, OR=0.987, 95% CI=0.965-1.010). (4)Over time, the probability of entering the two high-risk suicide groups(C2 and C3) increased.The proportion of C2 and C3 showed an upward trend, and the proportion of C3 showed a more significant upward trend, with a 10% increase over the past 5 years.

ConclusionsThe potential suicide risk of college students can be divided into three heterogeneous categories.There are significant differences in the impact of gender, grade of enrollment, and mental health symptoms (interpersonal sensitivity, phobic anxiety, and paranoia ideation) on potential suicide risk among different subgroups.Targeted intervention measures should be taken based on the characteristics of college students in the high-risk group of suicide and should focus on college students with high neurotic personality traits in the high suicide risk group to reduce the occurrence of crisis events.