Internalizing disorders are characterized by several negative symptoms including stress, anxiety, and mood instability (Ben-Porath, 2012; Duffy et al., 2017). The literature suggests that more women than men are diagnosed with internalizing disorders like depression (Nolen-Hoeksema, 1994). One mechanism that has been supported as influencing this difference is gender stereotypes, which encourage women and men to express emotions differently (Rosenfield et al., 2000). One specific area within the internalizing spectrum where we may see these gender differences is anger proneness. Anger proneness (ANP) is the tendency to become easily angered, upset, or impatient with others (Ben-Porath, 2012). Indeed, there is evidence to suggest that men tend to express anger more externally whereas women tend to express anger more internally (Dawson et al., 2010).
Despite past research on gender differences in internalizing disorders, previous literature has not examined gender differences in specific scales like the MMPI-2-RF ANP scale. Thus, the current study examined whether gender differences exist on the MMPI-2-RF ANP scale. We hypothesized that men would score higher than women. To achieve this goal, we used an archival dataset of college students who scored higher than average on the MMPI-2-RF Emotional/Internalizing Dysfunction scale. The assumption of normality for an independent samples t-test was violated so, we conducted an independent samples Mann-Whitney U test. The independent samples Mann-Whitney U test indicated that women and men endorsed similar levels of anger proneness, p=.72.
The MMPI-2-RF ANP scale captures negative emotional experiences of anger, but not how individuals act on these emotions. So, gender differences in anger may be better captured by the MMPI-2-RF Aggression scale which measures aggressive behaviors in response to feelings of anger. It may be that women and men experience feelings of anger similarly, but act on these emotions differently. For example, one’s culture and adherence to stereotypes affects the extent to which they engage in stereotype-consistent behaviors (Eagly et al., 2019). Thus, we may have a sample who more loosely adheres to gender stereotypes and therefore engages in fewer stereotype-consistent behaviors. Future research should investigate the effect of stereotypes on anger-related behaviors when other characteristics are accounted for.
Faculty Mentor: Tayla T.C. Lee
Department of Psychological Science
Graduate