Gender and Personality Variables in Film-Induced Sadness and Crying

Abstract

Social and personality correlates of crying relevant to clinical application were examined in the laboratory. The effects of gender and of gender-pairing on emo tional expression of film-induced sadness were evaluated. College students served in pairs as experimental subjects. Results indicated that men retrospectively report ed less crying than women, and that both male and female subjects reported more appropriate sex-stereotypic behavior (i.e., males cried less, females cried more) when in opposite-sex pairings. Correlational analyses indicated that females, un like males, showed clear concordances between sadness and crying. Males, unlike females, evidenced negative correlations between reported anger and crying. Per sonality variables (including empathy, extraversion, femininity, ego strength, and prior levels of stress) were found to be associated with crying and sadness, al though markedly different correlation patterns were seen for men and women. The findings collectively suggest that crying is associated with a complex interaction among gender, personality, and context variables.Because crying has become increasingly recognized as serving an adaptive function of stress relief, research on the factors related to the disinhibition of crying should provide valuable information for clinical application of cathartic techniques, particularly for individuals prone to suppression of such affect.

Personality, gender, and crying

“…For men, previous studies (Choti et al, 1987;Williams, 1982) have shown associations of crying with identi®cation with feminine sex-role stereotypes, rejection of masculine sex-role stereotypes, levels of emotional empathy, and neuroticism. For women, only signi®cant positive correlations between weeping reactivity, on the one hand, and femininity and empathy, on the other hand, were found.…”

“…It has been found consistently that women cry more often and intensely than men (Choti, Marston, Holston and Hart, 1987;Frey, 1985;Frey, Hoffman-Ahern, Johnson, Lykken and Tuason, 1983;Kraemer and Hastrup, 1986;Vingerhoets and Becht, 1997;Williams and Morris, 1996; for reviews, see Vingerhoets, 1999, 2001;Vingerhoets and Scheirs, 2000). However, it remains to be established to what extent these gender differences may be attributed to differences in personality and a reluctance to express emotions.…”

Crying and mood change: A cross-cultural study

“…Retrospective studies in which subjects were asked to remember a recent crying episode generally suggest that crying improves mood (e.g., Bindra, 1972;Frey, Hoffman-Ahern, Johnson, Lykken, & Tuason, 1983;Kraemer & Hastrup, 1986). In contrast, laboratory studies in which participants are exposed to sad films consistently show that those who have cried feel worse and have more negative moods than those who have not shed any tears (e.g., Choti, Marston, Holston, & Hart, 1987;Gross, Fredrickson, & Levenson, 1994;Martin & Labott, 1991). The reasons for this discrepancy are unclear.…”

Do mood disorders alter crying? a pilot investigation

“…Reinforcing the idea that mood disorders may alter typical sex differences in crying, however, men (but not women) reported that the onset of depression led to increases in their crying frequency and cry proneness. Finally, there were also associations between symptom severity and crying in men, but not in women, a pattern previously found only in nonclinical samples [Choti et al, 1987;Hammen and Padesky, 1977]. We submit this study as a modest step designed to move the field toward a more differentiated picture of crying in the mood disorders Nevertheless, four limitations of the current study should be noted.…”