When infants wail: frustration and gender as variables in distress disclosure

Gender and differences in self-disclosure following a frustrating event were investigated. The Emotional Self-Disclosure Scale assessed the extent to which 100 male college students and 100 female college students were willing to disclose their emotions. The frustrating stimulus presented was a tape of an infant crying, played at 85 dB for 10 min. Men exposed to the noxious stimulus were less willing to disclose than men who were not. All of the men were less willing than the women to disclose in either condition. Women in the two conditions showed no differences in disclosure. These findings are interpreted with respect to how disclosure is affected by the immediate environment and with respect to male-female differences.