Gender, anger expression style, and opportunity for anger release determine cardiovascular reaction to and recovery...

This study represents an extension of Hokanson's research, which showed that for men anger release after provocation tends to accelerate cardiovascular recovery. The objective of this study was to investigate how gender and habitual style for anger-in or anger-out behavior modulate the effect of anger provocation and release. Male and female subjects (N = 105) were classified as anger-in/anger-out only when a double criterion (i.e., self-report and peer evaluation) was satisfied. Following a state anger rating at pre-test, subjects were harassed during the performance of a 12-minute math task. After task completion, subjects were randomly assigned to one of two 10-minute recovery protocols a) having an opportunity to release negative affect, and b) not not having such an opportunity. All groups (including the anger-ins) that had an opportunity to express negative affect did in fact express similar levels of anger. Men reacted more strongly to the math task performed under anger provocation on all cardiovascular indices. Anger expression style as a trait-type disposition was important for the recovery process in women whereas the situational manipulation (i.e., the opportunity to release anger) had specific effects on the recovery process of men. Opportunity to release anger facilitated heart rate recovery (and to a lesser degree diastolic pressure recovery) in men but not in women. Women with anger-in tendencies on the other hand displayed better systolic pressure recovery than female anger-outs whereas no such effects were observed in men.