Characterizing emotion profiles in non-clinical population: A cluster analytical study

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Mental Health Research

Background:

• Emotion processing and pleasure beliefs significantly impact depression development and severity.
• Understanding these factors is crucial for identifying at-risk individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To profile college students based on pleasure experience, emotion expression, regulation, and beliefs.
• To validate these emotional profiles against depressive symptom severity.
• To identify distinct emotional subtypes within a student population.

Main Methods:

• Cluster analysis of 1028 college students.
• Utilized checklists for beliefs about pleasure and emotion processing facets.
• Employed a two-stage cluster analysis approach.

Main Results:

• A three-cluster solution emerged, representing distinct emotional profiles.
• Cluster 1: Moderate levels of pleasure/emotion processing (n=536).
• Cluster 2: High levels of pleasure/emotion processing (n=402).
• Cluster 3: Low levels of pleasure/emotion processing (n=90).
• Significant differences in depressive symptom severity were observed across the three clusters.

Conclusions:

• Identified three distinct emotional subtypes in college students.
• These subtypes show varying associations with depression.
• Findings support the use of these emotional profiles for early depression risk detection in youth.