Association of perceived inequality, relative deprivation and loneliness with the trajectory of anger in university students

Objective To examine the trajectory of anger and its psychosocial predictors (i.e., perceived social inequality, relative deprivation, and loneliness) as well as its association with anxiety and depression.Participants/Method Students (N = 365) completed an online survey three times over a one-year period.Results Three trajectories of anger were identified by growth mixture modeling: low/stable (i.e., a low and stable anger over time; 88.0%), low/increasing (i.e., a low level of anger with an increasing trend; 6.7%), and moderate/decreasing class (i.e., a moderate level of anger with a decreasing trend; 5.3%). A greater perception of relative deprivation, but not of perceived social inequality, was associated with the low/increasing class. A greater level of loneliness was associated with the moderate/decreasing class. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were higher in the moderate/decreasing and low/increasing class than in the low/stable class.Conclusions These results suggest that interventions targeted at anger may benefit from addressing perceptions of relative deprivation and loneliness.