Three studies explored the associations among style of anger expression, emotional expressivity, Big Five personality traits, somatic complaints, and self-reported health behaviors among undergraduate and community-residing participants. Unlike measures of emotional expressivity, which tend to be most strongly related to Extraversion, anger-in and anger-out primarily were associated with Neuroticism and Agreeableness, respectively. Anger-in was positively related to somatic complaints but failed to predict symptoms after controlling for Neuroticism. Anger-out was positively associated with both somatic complaints and self-reported health behaviors, even after controlling for Neuroticism and Agreeableness. Measures of emotional expressivity provided further information regarding style of anger expression. Anger-in was associated with a general tendency to be emotionally inexpressive, whereas anger-out was more specifically related to the expression of angry emotions.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alexander, F. (1939). Emotional factors in essential hypertension. Psychosomatic Medicine, 1, 173-179.
2.
Barefoot, J. C. , Dahlstrom, W. G., & Williams, R. B., Jr. (1983). Hostility, CHD incidence, and total mortality: A 25-year follow-up study of 255 physicians. Psychosomatic Medicine, 45, 59-63.
3.
Barefoot, J. C. , Dodge, K. A., Peterson, B. L., Dahlstrom, W. G., & Williams, R. B. (1989). The Cook-Medley Hostility Scale: Item content and ability to predict survival. Psychosomatic Medicine, 51, 46-57.
4.
Briggs, S. R. , & Cheek, J. M. (1986). The role of factor analysis in the development and evaluation of personality scales. Journal of Personality, 54, 106-148.
5.
Brown, K. W. , & Moskowitz, D. S. (1997). Does unhappiness make you sick? The role of affect and neuroticism in the experience of common physical symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 907-917.
6.
Clark, L. A. , & Watson, D. (1995). Constructing validity: Basic issues in objective scale development. Psychological Assessment, 7, 309-319.
7.
Cohen, S. , Doyle, W. J., Skoner, D. P., Fireman, P., Gwaltney, J. M., & Newsom, J. T. (1995). State and trait negative affect as predictors of objective and subjective symptoms of respiratory viral infections. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 159-169.
8.
Cohen, S. , & Syme, S. L. (1985). Social support and health. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
9.
Costa, P. T., Jr. , & McCrae, R. R. (1987). Neuroticism, somatic complaints, and disease: Is the bark worse than the bite?Journal of Personality, 55, 297-316.
10.
Costa, P. T., Jr. , & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI): Professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
11.
Davidson, K. W. (1996). Self-and expert-reported emotion inhibition: On the utility of both data sources. Journal of Research in Personality, 30, 535-549.
12.
Deffenbacher, J. L. , Oetting, E. R., Thwaites, G. A., Lynch, R. S., Baker, D. A., Stark, R. S., Thacker, S., & Eiswerth-Cox, L. (1996). State-trait anger theory and the utility of the Trait Anger Scale. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 43, 131-148.
13.
Digman, J. M. (1990). Personality structure: Emergence of the five-factor model. Annual Review of Psychology, 41, 417-440.
14.
Ellsworth, P. C. , & Smith, C. A. (1988). From appraisal to emotion: Differences among unpleasant feelings. Motivation and Emotion, 12, 271-302.
15.
Friedman, H. S. , Tucker, J. S., & Reise, S. P. (1995). Personality dimensions and measures potentially relevant to health: A focus on hostility. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 17, 245-253.
16.
Funkenstein, D. H. , King, S. H., & Drolette, M. (1954). The direction of anger during a laboratory stress-inducing situation. Psychosomatic Medicine, 16, 404-413.
17.
Gentry, W. D. , Chesney, A. P., Gary, H. E., Hall, R. P., & Harburg, E. (1982). Habitual anger-coping styles: I. Effect on mean blood pressure and risk for essential hypertension. Psychosomatic Medicine, 44, 195-202.
18.
Harburg, E. , Erfurt, J. C., Hauenstein, L. S., Chape, C., Schull, W. J., & Schork, M. A. (1973). Socio-ecological stress, suppressed hostility, skin color, and Black-White male blood pressure: Detroit. Psychosomatic Medicine, 35, 276-296.
19.
John, O. P. (1990). The “Big Five” factor taxonomy: Dimensions of personality in the natural language and in questionnaires. In L. Pervin (Ed.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 66-100). New York: Guilford.
20.
John, O. P., Donahue, E. M., & Kentle, R. L. (1991). The Big Five Inventory—Versions 4a and 54 (Technical Report). Berkeley: University of California, Institute of Personality and Social Research.
21.
Johnson, E. H. , Schork, N. J., & Spielberger, C. D. (1987a). Emotional and familial determinants of elevated blood pressure in Black and White adolescent males. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 31, 287-300.
22.
Johnson, E. H. , Schork, N. J., & Spielberger, C. D. (1987b). Emotional and familial determinants of elevated blood pressure in Black and White adolescent females. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 31, 731-741.
23.
Joreskog, K. , & Sorbom, D. (1993). LISREL 8: A guide to the program and applications. Chicago: Scientific Software.
24.
Keltner, D. , Ellsworth, P. C., & Edwards, K. (1993). Beyond simple pessimism: Effects of sadness and anger on social perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 740-752.
25.
King, L. A. , & Emmons, R. A. (1990). Conflict over emotional expression: Psychological and physical correlates. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 864-877.
26.
Kowalski, R. M. (1996). Complaints and complaining: Functions, antecedents, and consequences. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 179-196.
27.
Krantz, D. S. , & Manuck, S. B. (1984). Acute psychophysiologic reactivity and risk of cardiovascular disease: A review and methodological critique. Psychological Bulletin, 96, 435-464.
28.
Kring, A. M. , Smith, D. A., & Neal, J. M. (1994). Individual differences in dispositional expressiveness: Development and validation of the Emotional Expressivity Scale. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 934-949.
29.
Marshall, G. N. , Wortman, C. B., Vickers, R. R., Jr., Kusulas, J. W., & Hervig, L. K. (1994). The five-factor model of personality as a framework for personality-health research. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 278-286.
30.
Martin, R. (1996). The structure of trait anger. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Iowa.
31.
Martin, R. , & Watson, D. (1997). Style of anger expression and its relation to daily experience. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 285-294.
32.
Martin, R. , & Watson, D. (1998). The ABC’s of trait anger. Manuscript submitted for publication.
33.
Matthews, K. A. , Glass, D. C., Rosenman, R. H., & Bortner, R. W. (1977). Competitive drive, Pattern A, and coronary heart disease: A further analysis of some data from the Western Collaborative Group Study. Journal of Chronic Diseases, 30, 489-498.
34.
Pennebaker, J. W. (1982). The psychology of physical symptoms. New York: Springer-Verlag.
35.
Roseman, I. (1984). Cognitive determinants of emotion: A structural theory. In P. Shaver (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology. Vol. 5: Emotions, relationships, and health (pp. 11-36). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
36.
Scherer, K. (1984). On the nature and function of emotion: A component process approach. In K. S. Scherer & P. Ekman (Eds.), Approaches to emotion (pp. 293-318). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
37.
Shekelle, R. B. , Gale, M., Ostfeld, A. M., & Paul, O. (1983). Hostility, risk of coronary heart disease, and mortality. Psychosomatic Medicine, 45, 109-114.
38.
Smith, C. A. , & Ellsworth, P. C. (1985). Patterns of cognitive appraisal in emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 813-838.
39.
Smith, T. W. , & Anderson, N. B. (1986). Models of personality and disease: An interactional approach to Type A behavior and cardiovascular risk. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 1166-1173.
40.
Smith, T. W. , & Williams, P. G. (1992). Personality and health: Advantages and limitations of the five-factor model. Journal of Personality, 60, 395-423.
41.
Spielberger, C. D. , Johnson, E. H., Russell, S. F., Crane, R. J., Jacobs, G. A., Worden, T. J. (1985). The experience and expression of anger: Construction and validation of an Anger Expression Scale. In M. A. Chesney & R. H. Rosenman (Eds.), Anger and hostility in cardiovascular and behavioral disorders (pp. 5-30). Washington, DC: Hemisphere.
42.
Suls, J. , & Rittenhouse, J. D. (1990). Models to study the linkages between personality and disease. In H. Friedman (Ed.), Personality and disease. New York: John Wiley.
43.
Suls, J. , Wan, C. K., & Costa, P. T., Jr. (1995). Relationship of trait anger to resting blood pressure: A meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 14, 444-456.
44.
Tomaka, J. , Blascovich, J., Kelsey, R. M., & Leitten, C. L. (1993). Subjective, physiological, and behavioral effects of threat and challenge appraisal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 248-260.
45.
Watson, D. (1988). Intraindividual and interindividual analyses of positive and negative affect: Their relation to health complaints, perceived stress, and daily activities. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1020-1030.
46.
Watson, D. , & Pennebaker, J. W. (1989). Health complaints, stress, and distress: Exploring the central role of negative affectivity. Psychological Review, 96, 234-254.
