Latent Profile Analysis of Resilience, Peer Victimization, and Friendship Quality Configurations Among Chinese Adolescents: Identifying Four Subgroups and Their Self-Injury Prevalence

This cross-sectional study aimed to identify distinct subgroups of Chinese adolescents based on resilience, peer victimization, and friendship quality, as well as to describe self-injury prevalence across subgroups. Methods: A survey of 33,821 middle school students (mean age 14.3 years; 49.5% male) assessed resilience (RSCA), peer victimization (MPVS), friendship quality (FQQ), depression (PHQ-9), anxiety (GAD-7), and psychological pain (TDPPS). Latent profile analysis (LPA) identified subgroups using 11 indicators; logistic regression examined self-injury associations. Results: Four profiles emerged: High Resource–Low Victimization (85.3%), Moderate Resource–Moderate Victimization (7.6%), Moderate Resource–Polyvictimization (2.1%), and Moderate Resource–Verbal Victimization (5.0%). Self-injury prevalence differed significantly across groups (18.1%, 47.5%, 56.3%, and 44.8%; p < 0.001). The Verbal Victimization group had the highest adjusted odds of self-injury (OR = 1.48, 95% CI: 1.31–1.68), followed by Moderate Victimization (OR = 1.38) and Polyvictimization (OR = 1.21). Psychological pain was the strongest correlate (OR = 2.41, 95% CI: 2.30–2.52). Conclusion: Heterogeneous resource–victimization profiles exist among adolescents. Verbal victimization—despite its otherwise moderate resources—was associated with the highest adjusted odds of self-injury, challenging conventional victimization hierarchies. Causal inferences are precluded by the cross-sectional design.