Influence of sex, age, and education on mood profile clusters

Abstract

In the area of mood profiling, six distinct profiles are reported in the literature, termed the iceberg, inverse iceberg, inverse Everest, shark fin, surface, and submerged profiles. We investigated if the prevalence of the six mood profiles varied by sex, age, and education among a large heterogeneous sample. The Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS) was completed via the In The Mood website by 15,692 participants. A seeded k-means cluster analysis was used to confirm the six profiles, and discriminant function analysis was used to validate cluster classifications. Significant variations in the prevalence of mood profiles by sex, age, and education status were confirmed. For example, females more frequently reported negative mood profiles than males, and older and more highly educated participants had a higher prevalence of the iceberg profile than their younger and lesser educated counterparts. Findings suggest that refinement of the existing tables of normative data for the BRUMS should be considered.