Crying and mood change: A cross-cultural study

This study was designed to determine the influence of crying-related variables and country characteristics on positive mood change after crying. It was hypothesized that mood change would be positively associated to crying frequency, Individualism-Collectivism, and the extent of gender empowerment in a country. Masculinity-Femininity and shame were expected to have a negative relation with mood change. Participants were 1680 male and 2323 female students from 30 countries who provided self-report data on their crying behavior. Although bivariate associations yielded inconsistent results, in a regression analysis Masculinity-Femininity, national income, shame, and crying frequency emerged as significant predictors of mood change, all in the anticipated direction. The results suggest that how one feels after a crying episode depends on how common crying is in one's culture and general feelings of shame over crying. It also seems that (perceptions of) role patterns may play an important part in the experience of mood change.