Based on an integrated variable-centered and person-centered approach, this study examined the relationships between self-esteem, benign and malicious envy, and academic persistence and procrastination. A total of 711 adolescents were recruited from a middle school. Results showed that self-esteem and benign envy positively predicted academic persistence and negatively predicted academic procrastination, while malicious envy showed the opposite prediction pattern. Besides, the relationship between self-esteem and academic persistence and procrastination was mediated by envy. More importantly, latent profile analyses identified four profiles of self-esteem, benign envy, malicious envy: the low self-esteem–high malicious envy group (28%), the low self-esteem–low envy group (10%), the high self-esteem–healthy envy group (58%), and the low self esteem–extremely high malicious envy group (4%). Among these, the high self-esteem–healthy envy group exhibited the highest level of academic persistence and the lowest level of academic procrastination, while the low self-esteem–extremely high malicious envy group reported the highest level of academic procrastination.
