Style of Anger Expression: Relation to Expressivity, Personality, and Health

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.