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2004 Simon Nath - Gender and Emotion PDF
2004 Simon Nath - Gender and Emotion PDF
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U.S. emotion culture contains beliefs that women are more emotional
and emotionally expressive than men and that men and women
differ in their experience and expression of specific emotions. Using
data from the 1996 emotions module of the GSS, the authors investigate whether men and women differ in self-reports of feelings
and expressive behavior, evaluating whether the patterns observed
for men and women are consistent with cultural beliefs as well as
predictions from two sociological theories about emotion and two
sociological theories about gender. Surprisingly, self-reports do not
support cultural beliefs about gender differences in the frequency
of everyday subjective feelings in general. Men and women do,
however, differ in the frequency of certain positive and negative
feelings, which is explained by their difference in social position.
The implications of the findings for theory and research on both
gender and emotion are discussed.
According to several emotions scholars, societies contain emotion cultures,
which include beliefs about gender and emotion (Cancian 1987; Gordon
1
We are grateful to Peggy Thoits, Sarah Rosenfield, Dawn Robinson, Jim Jasper, Allan
Horwitz, and especially Brian Powell and the AJS reviewers for their contributions
to this article. Thanks, too, to members of the sociology department at Florida State
University for their thoughtful remarks. We are also thankful to the National Science
Foundation for funding the emotions module in the 1996 General Social Survey. An
earlier version of the article was presented at the 2001 annual meetings of the American
Sociological Association in Anaheim, California. Direct correspondence to Robin
Simon, 613 Bellamy Building, Department of Sociology, Center for Demography and
Population Health, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306-2240. E-mail:
rsimon@fsu.edu
1137
BACKGROUND
2
Parsonss functional theory about gender is based on a division of labor that was
common in the 1950s but is no longer typical in a period when the majority of women
work outside the home. Nevertheless, we examine his theorys predictions about gender
differences in emotion because it reflects current cultural beliefs about mens and
womens everyday subjective feelings and expressive behavior.
1140
METHODS
Data
Our analyses are based on data from the 1996 emotions module of the
GSS. The GSS, which has been conducted regularly since 1972, is based
on a nationally representative sample of adults living in households in
the United States. About one-half (N p 1,460) of the 2,904 respondents
who were interviewed that year were asked a variety of questions about
their affective experiences and behavior. The module contained questions
about the frequency with which respondents experienced 19 different
emotions, including a range of both positive and negative feelings. A
subset of respondents who reported that they felt anger at least one day
during the previous week (N p 1,125) were asked follow-up questions
about their anger. About one-half of the module respondents (N p 755)
were selected to answer questions about their expressive behavior.
1144
Although we created separate measures for calm and anxious feelings, the variables
included in these two measures actually loaded into a single factor in the exploratory
factor analyses, which suggests that these constructed feeling states represent two sides
of a continuum for a similar type or class of emotions. We analyze these feeling states
as two separate measures because calm feelings represent positive, and anxious feelings
represent negative, emotional experiences. We also wanted to compare our results for
anxious feelings with the findings of research on gender and mental health, which
tends to focus on these (and other) negative emotions.
1145
With the exception of the last two variableswhich were reverse coded
high scores, therefore, reflect disagreements with these statements. In order
to assess whether women report more emotional expressiveness than men
in general, we computed a summary measure of emotional expressiveness
based on the first five items listed above. Scores on this measure range
from 5 to 25 (a p .58), with high scores indicating greater expressiveness.
Note that we did not include the sixth item of emotional expression in
our summary measure because it focuses on the expression of anger
which our emotion culture and Hochschilds normative theory about emotion assume is greater for men than for women. We did, however, conduct
analyses of this item along with the other five individual items of emotional expression. Appendix table C1 presents the means for each of these
items and the summary measure for the total analysis sample and separately for women and men.
Sociodemographic and status characteristics.To assess whether so1146
4
Whites are the omitted category for race in the analyses. Consistent with earlier
research on gender and mental health, we coded respondents as parents if they had
one or more children under 18 living at home. Since greater numbers of children, rather
than simply their presence, may be critical for understanding gender differences in
emotionas Ross and Van Willigens (1996) study of anger demonstratedall of the
analyses presented here were also conducted with a continuous variable for the number
of children under 18 living in the respondents household in place of the dichotomous
parental status variable. While the inclusion of the continuous parental status variable
does not change our main substantive results, we found that the presence of young
children at home is a better predictor of affective experience than the number of young
children in the household. The tables we present, therefore, include the dichotomous
parental status variable but we mention the significant results for the continuous
parental status variable in the results section that follows. Tables for these analyses
are available upon request.
1147
RESULTS
5
Although the clusters for our six measures of feeling states are generally consistent
for men and women, confirmatory factor analyses of these items revealed some interesting variation by gender. For example, while feelings of anxiety and sadness form
two distinct factors for women, they form only one factor for menwhich suggests
that men do not distinguish between these types of negative emotions as clearly as do
women. We also found that the magnitude of the loadings for shame and embarrassment is greater for women than for men. These patterns are consistent with those
reported by Lively and Heise (2004), who also evaluated these items using the same
data.
1149
Total
Male
Female
44.3
(16.3)
44.0
(15.9)
44.5
(16.6)
81.4
13.5
5.1
13.5
(2.8)
24,750
47.3
35.6
69.1
1,346
84.0
10.1
5.9
13.6
(2.8)
28,999
51.0
29.3
77.4
594
79.3
16.2
4.5
13.4
(2.8)
23,250
44.3
40.6
62.5
752
Race:
White (%) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Black (%) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Other (%) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Education (mean years) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Household income ($) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Married (%) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Children under 18 at home (%) . . . . .
Employed (%) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
N ........................................
Note.Nos. in parentheses are SDs.
older persons and those with higher household incomes (see model 2).
Additionally, while there is no significant black-white difference in the
frequency of all feelings, white persons report significantly more frequent
feelings than persons with other racial backgrounds. Although there are
no significant social status differences in the frequency with which persons
report feelings in model 3, results of supplemental interactional analyses
(not shown here but available upon request) indicate that the negative
effect of household income on the frequency of emotional experiences is
significantly greater for men than for women.
Second, although there is no significant difference in the frequency with
which men and women report emotions in general, there are significant
gender differences in the frequency with which they report positive and
negative emotions. Men report positive feelings more often than women
(see model 4). In fact, the gender difference in positive feelings remains
significant after sociodemographic and status characteristics are included
in models 5 and 6. Age and education are also associated with positive
feelings; older persons and those with higher levels of education report
positive emotions significantly more often than their younger and less
educated peers (see model 5). Moreover, while respondents with children
under 18 at home do not significantly differ from persons not residing
with young children (see model 6), supplemental analyses (not shown here
but available upon request) reveal that the number of children under 18
in the household is significantly (and negatively) related to the frequency
of positive emotions.
In contrast to positive affect, women report negative feelings significantly more often than men (see model 7). However, the difference in the
1150
TABLE 2
Unstandardized Coefficients from Regressions of the Frequency with Which
Respondents Reported Feelings
All Feelings
Model 1
Female (0, 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.01
(.81)
.01
Model 2
Model 3
Model 5
Model 6 Model 7
.37
.61
1.74** 1.76** 1.67**
(.81)
(.82)
(.56)
(.56)
(.57)
.76
.87
.90
1.14
(1.19)
(1.20)
(.83)
(.84)
4.53** 4.77**
.04
.01
(1.82)
(1.83)
(1.27)
(1.27)
.12*** .13***
.07***
.05**
(.03)
(.03)
(.02)
(.02)
.08
.05
.33**
.33**
(.15)
(.16)
(.11)
(.11)
.27**
.19
.01
.01
(.09)
(.10)
(.06)
(.07)
.91
.78
(.92)
(.64)
.44
1.16
(.92)
(.64)
1.76
.56
(.98)
(.68)
.02
.02
.01
.02
.02
1.75*
(.78)
.00
Model 8
Model 9
1.39
1.06
(.76)
(.78)
1.66
2.01
(1.12)
(1.13)
4.48** 4.76**
(1.72)
(1.72)
.19*** .18***
(.02)
(.03)
.41**
.38**
(.14)
(.15)
.28*** .20*
(.09)
(.10)
1.69*
(.87)
1.59
(.87)
1.20
(.92)
.06
.07
6
We also examined whether men and women differ in the sheer number of feelings
they reported in the previous week. Since the emotions module contains more negative
than positive feelings (and women report more frequent negative feelings than do men),
it is not surprising that women report that they experience a greater number of feelings
during the past week relative to men. Tables for these auxiliary analyses are available
upon request.
1152
TABLE 3
Unstandardized Coefficients from Regressions of Six Constructed Feeling States
Calm Feelings
Model
1
Female (0, 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66*
(.32)
Black (0, 1)a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1154
Model
2
.65*
(.31)
.50
(.46)
.24
(.70)
.09***
(.01)
.14*
(.06)
.04
(.04)
Married (0, 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Children under 18 at home (0, 1) . . . . .
Employed (0, 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Adjusted R2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.00
.06
Model
3
Excited Feelings
Model
4
Model
5
Model
6
.56
1.09*** 1.11*** 1.11**
(.32)
(.34)
(.35)
(.35)
.71
.40
.43
(.46)
(.51)
(.51)
.28
.28
.29
(.70)
(.78)
(.78)
.07***
.02
.02
(.01)
(.01)
(.01)
.14*
.19**
.19**
(.06)
(.07)
(.07)
.03
.03
.03
(.04)
(.04)
(.04)
.65
.13
(.36)
(.39)
1.04**
.11
(.35)
(.39)
.41
.15
(.38)
(.42)
.07
.01
.01
.01
Anxious Feelings
Model
7
.92**
(.36)
.00
Model
8
Model
9
.80*
.65
(.36)
(.36)
1.33** 1.46**
(.53)
(.53)
2.31** 2.43**
(.80)
(.81)
.08*** .07***
(.01)
(.01)
.23*** .21**
(.07)
(.07)
.12**
.11**
(.04)
(.05)
.31
(.41)
1.00**
(.41)
.13
(.43)
.06
.06
Sad Feelings
Female (0, 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Model
10
Model
11
Model
12
1.01***
(.26)
.80**
(.26)
.21
(.38)
.31
(.58)
.03***
(.01)
.16***
(.05)
.14***
(.03)
.70**
(.26)
.36
(.38)
.39
(.58)
.04***
(.01)
.16***
(.05)
.06
(.03)
1.20***
(.29)
.11
(.29)
.91**
(.31)
.07
1155
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Household income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Married (0, 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Children under 18 at home (0, 1) . . . . .
Employed (0, 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Adjusted R2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.01
.05
Angry Feelings
Model
13
.09
(.27)
.00
Model
14
Model
15
Feelings of Shame
Model
16
.10
.21
.09
(.27)
(.27)
(.11)
.04
.03
(.40)
(.40)
1.37*
1.47*
(.60)
(.61)
.07*** .06***
(.01)
(.01)
.05
.03
(.05)
(.05)
.01
.01
(.03)
(.03)
.13
(.31)
.71*
(.30)
.16
(.33)
.04
.04
.00
Model
17
Model
18
.10
(.11)
.17
(.17)
.50*
(.25)
.01**
(.00)
.03
(.02)
.02
(.01)
.08
(.11)
.15
(.17)
.47
(.25)
.01**
(.00)
.02
(.02)
.01
(.01)
.06
(.13)
.22
(.13)
.01
(.14)
.01
.01
7
We suspect that the difference between our findings and Ross and Van Willigens is
due to differences in the ways in which the frequency of anger was measured in each
study. Our measure is based on the number of days in the previous week respondents
felt anger, mad, and outrage, which is a more severe form of anger. In contrast, Ross
and Willigens measure is based on the number of days in the past week respondents
felt angry and annoyed, which is a milder form of anger, as well as the number of
days they yelled at someone.
8
Although we find that gender differences in living with young children explains gender
differences in the frequency of calm and anxious feelings, we do not find support for
the hypothesis that residing with young children is associated with significantly more
frequent negative feelings (including anger) for mothers than for fathers.
1157
We also conducted separate analyses for each of the 19 feelings, which revealed
significant gender differences in only seven of these feelings after respondents sociodemographic and status characteristics are held constant. While men report feeling
calm, excited, overjoyed, and proud more often than women, women report feeling
worried, sad, and lonely more often than men. Interestingly, and in contrast to cultural
beliefs about gender and emotion, these analyses further revealed that women do not
report feeling fearful more frequently than men, and men do not report feeling happy
more frequently than women. Tables for these analyses are available upon request.
1158
TABLE 4
Unstandardized Coefficients from Regressions of Angry Feelings
Intensity of Anger
Model
1
Female (0, 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.72***
(.15)
.02
Model
2
Model
3
.68***
.63***
(.15)
(.16)
.42
.35
(.23)
(.23)
.27
.22
(.34)
(.35)
.02***
.02***
(.01)
(.01)
.05
.04
(.03)
(.03)
.01
.01
(.02)
(.02)
.31
(.17)
.14
(.17)
.29
(.19)
.04
.04
Length of Time of
Anger
Model
4
.31***
(.09)
.01
Model
5
Model
6
.31***
.31***
(.09)
(.10)
.25
.24
(.14)
(.14)
.15
.16
(.21)
(.21)
.00
.00
(.00)
(.00)
.01
.01
(.02)
(.02)
.00
.00
(.01)
(.01)
.08
(.11)
.03
(.10)
.00
(.11)
.01
.01
Model Model
8
9
.34
(.21)
.39
.43*
(.21)
(.22)
.02 .02
(.32)
(.32)
.01
.07
(.48)
(.48)
.01
.01
(.01)
(.01)
.07
.06
(.04)
(.04)
.02
.02
(.02)
(.03)
.14
(.24)
.04
(.23)
.37
(.26)
.00
.00
.00
While this latter finding suggests that men are more likely than women to express
anger with certain types of behaviors (e.g., by using chemical substances, presumably
for the purpose of altering their feelings), our analyses of the 11 other coping strategies
(not shown) indicate that men are not more likely than women to report that they
express anger by yelling or hitting something. Tables for these analyses are also available upon request.
1160
TABLE 5
Unstandardized Coefficients from Logistic Regressions of Strategies Used to Cope with Anger
Talked to the person
angry at
Model
1
Female (0, 1) . . . . . . . . . . . .
.23
(.13)
Model
2
Employed (0, 1) . . . . . . . . .
.00
Model
4
Model
5
.29*
.30*
.53***
.65***
(.14)
(.14) (.13)
(.13)
.14
.19
.61**
(.20)
(.20)
(.20)
.43
.44
.18
(.32)
(.32)
(.30)
.01** .02**
.01**
(.00)
(.01)
(.00)
.01
.01
.07**
(.03)
(.03)
(.03)
.05***
.05**
.02
(.02)
(.02)
(.02)
.07
(.15)
Children under 18 at
home (0, 1) . . . . . . . . . . .
Nagelkerke R2 . . . . . . . . . .
Model
3
Talked to someone
else
.03
.18
(.15)
.18
(.16)
.04
.02
.07
Model
6
Model
8
Model
9
Model
12
.69*** .75***
.68***
.67*** .47
.64* .67*
(.14)
(.15)
(.15)
(.15)
(.26)
(.27)
(.28)
.63**
.94*** 1.06***
.61
.71*
(.20)
(.20)
(.21)
(.33)
(.35)
.14
.42
.38
6.60 6.70
(.30)
(.32)
(.32)
(13.67) (13.51)
.01*
.01
.00
.02* .03**
(.01)
(.01)
(.01)
(.01)
(.01)
.06*
.00
.02
.04
.04
(.03)
(.03)
(.03)
(.05)
(.05)
.02
.01
.03
.04
.02
(.02)
(.02)
(.02)
(.03)
(.03)
.09
.43**
.06
(.15)
(.17)
(.32)
.11
(.15)
.17
(.16)
.07
.04
.07
.07
(.16)
.21
(.17)
.08
.01
.06
.39
(.31)
.76**
(.31)
.08
Americans believe that women are more emotional and emotionally expressive than men and that males and females differ in the frequency
with which they experience and express specific emotions. However, it
was unclear whether mens and womens affective experiences and behavior are consistent with those beliefs, since we lacked systematic in11
Interestingly, our analyses indicate that neither the dichotomous nor the continuous
parental status variable significantly predicts the expression of angera finding that
is inconsistent with Ross and Willigens (1996) research. Once again, it is likely that
this inconsistency in findings is due to differences in our respective measures of anger.
12
Although the purpose of our study is to assess whether men and women differ in
self-reports of feelings and expressive behavior rather than to explain self-reports of
feelings and expressive behavior (and gender differences therein), it is noteworthy that
the R2 for all of our analyses are very lowdespite the inclusion of key sociological
variables in our models. While we completely agree with Schachter and Singers (1962)
and Thoitss (1989) arguments that the context in which situations occur influence
individuals emotional responses, with the exception of anger, the emotions module
did not include information about the particular situations that elicited respondents
feelings nor the specific contexts surrounding the eliciting situations. We strongly suspect that the omission of this information from our models helps account for our very
low R2.
1163
TABLE 6
Unstandardized Coefficients from Regressions of Respondents Self-Reports of Emotional Expressiveness
Emotional
Expressivenessa
Model
1
Female (0, 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1164
.54*
(.24)
Black (0, 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Other (0, 1)d . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Household income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Model
2
.53*
(.24)
.33
(.35)
.18
(.58)
.03***
(.01)
.15***
(.05)
.03
(.03)
Married (0, 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Children under 18 at home (0, 1) . . . . .
Employed (0, 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Adjusted R2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.01
.05
Keeps Emotions to
Selfb
.13*
(.07)
.00
.14*
.15*
.09
.08
(.07)
(.07)
(.08) (.08)
.18
.14
.23*
(.10)
(.10)
(.12)
.09
.10
.15
(.17)
(.17)
(.19)
.01** .01**
.01***
(.00)
(.00)
(.00)
.04** .04**
.04*
(.01)
(.01)
(.02)
.01
.00
.00
(.01)
(.01)
(.01)
.17*
(.08)
.06
(.08)
.02
(.08)
.04
.04
.00
.04
Model
12
.09
(.08)
.21
(.12)
.13
(.19)
.01***
(.00)
.03*
(.02)
.01
(.01)
.09
(.09)
.04
(.09)
.03
(.10)
.04
Try to Be Pleasantb
Model
13
Model
14
1165
.01
Not Afraid to
Show Feelingsc
.10
(.08)
.08
(.09)
.23
(.13)
.04
(.21)
.00
(.00)
.02
(.02)
.00
(.01)
.00
.00
.05
(.09)
.16
(.13)
.09
(.21)
.00
(.00)
.02
(.02)
.01
(.01)
.28**
(.10)
.14
(.10)
.19
(.10)
.01
.10
(.09)
.00
Model Model
20
21
.07
.05
(.09)
(.09)
.28*
.26*
(.13)
(.13)
.05
.02
(.22)
(.22)
.01** .01**
(.00)
(.00)
.03
.02
(.02)
(.02)
.01
.01
(.01)
(.01)
.05
(.10)
.04
(.10)
.15
(.11)
.02
.02
Note.Nos. in parentheses are SEs. N p 683 . The labels of the six areas of emotional expressiveness are shortened here for easier presentation; see app.
table C1 and the numbered list in the text for the complete statement.
a
This summary measure is based on five items. High scores indicate greater emotional expressiveness.
b
High scores on this variable reflect disagreements with the statement.
c
This variable was reverse coded. High scores reflect agreements with the statement.
d
White is the reference (i.e., omitted) category.
* P ! .05, two-tailed tests.
** P ! .01.
*** P ! .001.
1167
1170
APPENDIX A
TABLE A1
Means and SDs for Feelings
Total
Mean
N .........................
All feelings . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
All positive feelings . . . .
All negative feelings . . . .
Calm feelings . . . . . . . . . . .
Calm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contented . . . . . . . . . . . .
At ease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Excitement . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Happy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Excited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Overjoyed . . . . . . . . . . . .
Proud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Anxiety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fearful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Anxious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Restless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Worried . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sadness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Blue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lonely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Anger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Outraged . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Angry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Shame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ashamed . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Embarrassed . . . . . . . . .
SD
Males
Mean
SD
Females
Mean
SD
1,346
594
752
45.10 14.66 45.10 15.16 45.10 14.27
27.33 10.19 28.30 10.17 26.56 10.14
17.77 14.14 16.80 13.87 18.55 14.31
13.64 5.78 14.01
5.74 13.35 5.80
4.57 2.33 4.83
2.29 4.37 2.35
4.53 2.46 4.50
2.54 4.57 2.40
4.54 2.35 4.69* 2.33 4.42 2.36
13.68 6.23 14.29
6.31 13.20 6.13
5.30 2.00 5.35
2.00 5.26 2.01
3.63 2.30 3.81
2.22 3.49 2.36
1.79 2.14 1.92
2.28 1.69 2.02
2.97 2.32 3.21
2.32 2.77 2.31
7.73 6.60 7.22
6.39 8.13 6.74
1.16 1.93 1.05
1.79 1.25 2.04
2.26 2.25 2.19
2.19 2.32 2.29
1.50 2.25 1.56
2.30 1.44 2.20
2.81 2.71 2.41
2.57 3.12 2.78
4.29 4.76 3.73
4.44 4.74 4.96
1.19 1.82 1.06
1.75 1.30 1.87
1.64 1.90 1.42
1.81 1.81 1.96
1.46 2.17 1.25
2.01 1.63 2.27
4.70 4.92 4.75
5.01 4.66 4.84
1.52 1.88 1.48
1.86 1.55 1.90
1.69 1.92 1.75
1.97 1.64 1.88
1.49 1.77 1.51
1.79 1.46 1.75
1.06 2.02 1.11
2.05 1.02 2.00
.47 1.16
.47
1.13
.47 1.17
.59 1.21
.63
1.28
.55 1.15
P
Values* Reliability
NS
.002
.024
.038
.000
NS
.039
.002
NS
.010
.051
.001
.011
NS
NS
NS
.000
.000
.015
.000
.001
NS
NS
NS
NS
NS
NS
NS
.65
.76
.84
.74
.67
.69
.73
.86
.63
APPENDIX B
TABLE B1
Means and SDs for All Anger-Related Variables
N ..........................................
Intensity of anger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Length of time of anger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Felt reaction was appropriate . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Coping with angry feelings:
Thought about the situation . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Had a drink or took a pill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Talked to the person I was angry at . . . . .
Talked to someone else . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tried to forget it . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tried to change the situation . . . . . . . . . . . .
Prayed for help from God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fantasized about a magical solution . . . . .
Went out to get some exercise . . . . . . . . . . .
Yelled or hit something . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Waited for feelings to pass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tried to accept the situation . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Left the situation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Thought about how to get revenge . . . . . .
Planned how to end the relationship . . . . .
Other reasons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Note.Nos. in parentheses are SDs.
* P values are based on two-tailed tests.
Total
Males
Females
1,035
6.24
(2.43)
3.53
(1.48)
6.40
(3.32)
444
5.83
(2.41)
3.35
(1.43)
6.20
(3.31)
591
6.54
(2.40)
3.67
(1.50)
6.54
(3.32)
.35
(.48)
.06
(.24)
.37
(.48)
.59
(.49)
.31
(.46)
.27
(.44)
.28
(.45)
.07
(.26)
.14
(.35)
.08
(.27)
.29
(.46)
.47
(.50)
.15
(.36)
.06
(.24)
.10
(.30)
.04
(.20)
.37
(.48)
.08
(.27)
.34
(.47)
.51
(.50)
.34
(.47)
.27
(.44)
.20
(.40)
.07
(.26)
.14
(.35)
.08
(.27)
.30
(.46)
.45
(.50)
.15
(.36)
.05
(.22)
.08
(.27)
.04
(.19)
.34
(.47)
.05
(.22)
.39
(.49)
.64
(.48)
.29
(.46)
.27
(.45)
.34
(.47)
.07
(.26)
.15
(.36)
.08
(.27)
.29
(.45)
.48
(.50)
.16
(.37)
.07
(.25)
.12
(.32)
.05
(.22)
P Values*
.000
.001
NS
NS
NS
NS
.000
NS
NS
.000
NS
NS
NS
NS
NS
NS
NS
.049
NS
TABLE C1
Means and SDs for Emotional Expressiveness
Total
N .................................
Emotional expressiveness . . . . .
I keep my emotions to myself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
When anxious, I try not to
worry anyone else . . . . . . . .
I dont tell friends something upsetting . . . . . . . . . . . .
I try to be pleasant so as
not to upset others . . . . . . .
Im not afraid to show my
feelings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
When Im angry, I let people know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
683
13.86
(3.11)
3.08
(1.19)
2.34
(.90)
2.61
(1.03)
2.19
(.83)
3.63
(1.10)
3.46
(1.15)
P
Males Females Values*
310
13.57
(3.04)
2.96
(1.17)
2.27
(.82)
2.55
(1.00)
2.20
(.82)
3.58
(1.08)
3.41
(1.13)
373
14.10
(3.15)
3.18
(1.19)
2.40
(.96)
2.65
(1.06)
2.19
(.84)
3.68
(1.11)
3.50
(1.16)
.024
.017
.050
NS
NS
NS
NS
Note.N p 683.
* P values are based on two-tailed tests.
This summary measure is based on the first five items shown below. High scores indicate
greater emotional expressiveness.
This variable was reverse coded. High scores reflect agreements with the statement.
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