Anger‐Related Traits and Response to Interpersonal Conflict Among New York City Traffic Agents¹

This study evaluates the psychosocial correlates of anger‐related traits. Participants include New York City traffic enforcement agents (TEAs), who issue summonses for vehicular and parking violations and are frequently confronted by angry motorists. This sample of TEAs is 53% African American and 57% female. Participants completed surveys at 2 points, 4 months apart, which measured attitudinal, affective, and expressive components of hostility and anger, as well as dimensions of workplace psychosocial response. Results indicate that trait anger‐in was positively associated with frequency of conflict, anger intensity, and burnout in cross‐sectional analyses; and positively associated with frequency of conflict in prospective analyses. Trait anger was positively associated with an increase in burnout over a 4‐month period. These findings provide support for the transactional model of hostility and health and have implications for worksite interventions promoting cardiovascular health.