Who Gets Frustrated? Identifying Individuals Prone to Frustration Using a Latent Profile Analysis

Hannaneh Yazdi ^1* Mikael Ljung Aust ² Casper Wickman ² Aleksandra Bujacz ³ Leo Kowalski ³ Johan N Lundström ¹

• ¹ Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
• ² Volvo (Sweden), Gothenburg, Sweden
• ³ Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet (KI), Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden

Frustration is a complex negative emotion with multifaceted components, and identifying susceptible groups has yielded inconsistent findings. This study employs a person-centered analytical approach to distinguish subgroups of car drivers based on multidimensional frustration triggers and response indicators. Data were collected from a sample of 2,219 drivers.Through Latent Profile Analysis (LPA), four distinct profiles were identified: Minimal, Low, Moderate, and Severe. Specifically, these profiles were associated with frustrating driving situations (i.e., limited control and goal blockage) and emotional responses (i.e., anger, stress, and irritation). Predictors for these profiles included driving behavior dimensions (violations, errors, and lapses), user group category (sharing, ownership, and leasing), and demographic variables (age and gender). The findings indicate that demographic factors (i.e., age and gender) and individual characteristic differences (i.e., lapses in behavioral dimensions and user group categories) significantly influence susceptibility to frustration. Notably, the Severe profile, characterized by higher lapses and heightened frustration, predominantly included older drivers (age > 45), particularly women, who were in car-sharing and leasing user groups.These results highlight the varying degrees of susceptibility to frustration among different driver groups and emphasize the importance of employing targeted strategies to mitigate frustration in traffic.