title: Dissociative Experiences are Associated with Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in a Non-clinical Sample: A Latent Profile Analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There has been a burgeoning literature considering the significant associations between obsessive-compulsive symptoms and dissociative experiences. In this study, the relationsips between dissociative symtomotology and dimensions of obsessive-compulsive symptoms were examined in homogeneous sub-groups obtained with latent class algorithm in an undergraduate Turkish sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  Latent profile analysis, a recently developed classification method based on latent class analysis, was applied to the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) item-response data from 2976 undergraduates. Differences in severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms, anxiety and depression across groups were evaluated by running multinomial logistic regression analyses. Associations between latent class probabilities and psychological variables in terms of obsessive-compulsive sub-types, anxiety, and depression were assessed by computing Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The findings of the latent profile analysis supported further evidence for discontinuity model of dissociative experiences. The analysis empirically justified the distinction among three sub-groups based on the DES items. A marked proportion of the sample (42%) was assigned to the high dissociative class. In the further analyses, all sub-types of obsessive-compulsive symptoms significantly differed across latent classes. Regarding the relationships between obsessive-compulsive symptoms and dissociative symptomatology, low dissociation appeared to be a buffering factor dealing with obsessive-compulsive symptoms; whereas high dissociation appeared to be significantly associated with high levels of obsessive-compulsive symptoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is concluded that the concept of dissociation can be best understood in a typological approach that dissociative symptomatology not only exacerbates obsessive-compulsive symptoms but also serves as an adaptive coping mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Yüzüncü Yıl University Faculty of Arts, Department of Psychology, Van, Turkey.
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boysan
keywords: Dissociation models; anxiety; depression; latent profile analysis; obsessive-compulsive disorder