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. 2015 Dec 15;230(2):553-60.
doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2015.10.003. Epub 2015 Oct 3.

Population heterogeneity of trait anger and differential associations of trait anger facets with borderline personality features, neuroticism, depression, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and alcohol problems

Gitta H Lubke  1 , Klaasjan G Ouwens  2 , Marleen H M de Moor  3 , Timothy J Trull  4 , Dorret I Boomsma  2
Affiliations

Population heterogeneity of trait anger and differential associations of trait anger facets with borderline personality features, neuroticism, depression, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and alcohol problems

Gitta H Lubke et al. Psychiatry Res. .

Abstract

Anger is an emotion consisting of feelings of variable intensity ranging from mild irritation to intense fury. High levels of trait anger are associated with a range of psychiatric, interpersonal, and health problems. The objectives of this study were to explore heterogeneity of anger as measured by the Spielberger Trait Anger Scale (STAS), and to assess the association of the different anger facets with a selection of psychiatric disorders covering externalizing and internalizing problems, personality disorders, and substance use. Factor mixture models differentiated between a high and low scoring class (28% vs. 72%), and between three factors (anger-temperament, anger-reaction, and immediacy of an anger response). Whereas all psychiatric scales correlated significantly with the STAS total score, regressing the three STAS factors on psychiatric behaviors model showed a more detailed pattern. Only borderline affect instability and depression were significantly associated with all three factors in both classes whereas other problem behaviors were associated only with 1 or 2 of the factors. Alcohol problems were associated with immediacy only in the high scoring class, indicating a non-linear relation in the total sample. Taking into account these more specific associations is likely to be beneficial when investigating differential treatment strategies.

Keywords: Associations of anger factors with psychiatric outcomes; Factor mixture modeling; Heterogeneity.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Response Profiles of the two classes on the 10 STAS Items Note: The three panels depict the cumulative probabilities of scoring zero (upper panel), zero or one (middle panel), and zero, one or two (lower panel), respectively. The 10 STAS items are on the x-axis. The probability of scoring zero has a similar pattern for the two classes, but the higher scoring class endorses zero less often (see upper panel). Almost all participants in the lower scoring class have answered either zero or one on all items (see middle panel, probabilities for the low scoring class depicted in black are all close to 1). The higher scoring class also endorses higher response categories, and shows a differential response pattern across items. The lower panel shows that the higher scoring class scores higher than two especially on items 4, 7, 8, and 10.

  1. Trait Anger can be modeled as a two-class three-factor structure

  2. Regressing the three factors on associated psychiatric behaviors shows a differential pattern

  3. Borderline affect instability and depression are associated with all three factors in both classes

  4. All other psychiatric behaviors are associated only with 1 or 2 of the factors.

  5. Results refute a linear relationship between anger symptoms and alcohol problems

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