The Influence of Sex, Gender, Self-Discrepancies, and Self-Awareness on Anger and Verbal Aggressiveness Among U.S. College Students

Abstract

Among a sample of 445 U.S. college students, the authors examined the extent to which individual differences (e.g., sex, gender, self-discrepancies, self-awareness) explained anger tendencies and verbal aggressiveness. Regression analyses showed that (a) the tendency to repress anger (anger-in) was explained by masculinity, desire to be masculine, and public self-awareness, R2 = .19, F(11, 433) = 8.44, p < .001; (b) the tendency to express anger (anger-out) was explained by sex, masculinity, and public self-awareness, R2 = .17, F(11, 433) = 7.38, p < .001; and (c) willingness to be verbally aggressive was explained by sex, femininity, and private self-awareness, R2 = .32, F(11, 433) = 16.94, p < .001. In addition, different types of individual difference variables accounted for anger tendencies and verbal aggressiveness across sex and gender categories, suggesting that anger and verbal aggressiveness may be driven by different psychological processes across types of participants.

Bullying-victimization problems and aggressive tendencies in Spanish secondary schools students: the role of gender stereotypical traits

“…Anger was low among those females with a higher adherence to feminine traits. This finding may relate to previous findings that explain how anger management is characteristic of feminine traits like emotionality, delicacy or affection (Kinney et al 2001).…”

“…This finding is consistent with previous research and with the idea that people with aggressive tendencies experience anger and hostility. From this viewpoint, it seems logical that if masculine traits are related to proneness to aggression, then these traits also relate with anger and hostility (Kinney et al 2001;Kogut et al 1992).…”

“…Some studies have shown that people who describe themselves with more feminine traits are less involved in aggressive episodes than people with more masculine traits (Dohi et al 2001), or that they display less anger tendencies and less verbal aggressiveness (Kinney et al 2001); however, this tendency is not generally found worldwide.…”

Emotional and instrumental aggressiveness and body weight loss

“…This point of view was confirmed by many studies, that have revealed differences between men and women about their representation of aggression (Andreu et al, 2002;Archer & Haigh, 1999;Hines & Saudino, 2003;Ramirez, Andreu, & Fujihara, 2001), its justification or acceptability (Archer & McDaniel, 1995;Astin, Redston, & Campbell, 2003;Stewart-Williams, 2002), and its occurrence (Connor, Steingard, Anderson, & Melloni, 2003;Graham & Wells, 2001;Kinney, Smith, & Donzella, 2001;Knight, Guthrie, Page, & Fabes, 2002;Zeichner, Parrott, & Frey, 2003). However, our results limited to attitude toward aggressiveness, did not show such sexual differences; thus, they rather confirmed other studies in which differences between men and women were also absent or minute (Ramirez, Fujihara, & van Goozen, 2001).…”

Could mindfulness decrease anger, hostility, and aggression by decreasing rumination?

“…Self-awareness generally decreases physical and verbal aggression [Kinney et al, 2001;Prentice-Dunn and Rogers, 1982;Scheier et al, 1974]. These studies typically induced self-awareness by having participants look at themselves in the mirror, take a self-esteem measure, or focus primarily on themselves rather than others.…”