How Gender Shapes Anger and Aggression

Disordered anger has been associated with a range of threats to individual and public health including increased risk of physical and mental health problems as well as aggressive and violent behavior. Previous research has established relationships between anger, anger expression, and gender. Differences in anger expression may be partially attributed to variation in multiple aspects of gender. Existing literature has been reliant on limited gender identity measures and primarily focused on the role of masculinity as a predictor of aggression and violence. The current study aims to address this gap by using continuous gender items to categorize participants into multifaceted profiles of gender (Archetypical Men, Archetypical Women, Intertypical Men, Intertypical Women, and Nonconforming) that are characterized by specific gender identity, expression, and perception scores. The current study explores the relationship between anger and anger expression within and between these gender profiles. An online survey administered a continuous measure of sex and gender along with valid measures of anger and aggression to 152 adult participants. As predicted, results indicated that anger scores were positively associated with anger expression scores. The relationship between anger parameters and anger expression did differ between gender groups, although most comparisons fell short of statistical significance. Unexpectedly, Intertypical Women emerged as the group with the highest anger and anger expression scores. Implications, interpretations, and methodological topics are discussed