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Expressed and suppressed anger and health problems among transit workers

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Abstract

The present study assessed the relationship between anger expression and health outcomes in a sample of 1,407 San Francisco bus drivers. When controlling for a variety of health-risk factors, the results of multiple logistic regression analyses revealed significant positive associations between high levels of suppressed as well as expressed anger and gastrointestinal, respiratory, and musculoskeletal problems, with one exception (viz., the relationship between expressed anger and gastrointestinal problems was only marginally significant [p = .09]). Although both modes of anger expression were related to these health problems for men, none of the associations were significant for women. The results do not support the view that suppressed anger is more detrimental to health than expressed anger but rather suggest that both modes of coping with anger may increase vulnerability to disease in men.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Sciences, College of Arts & Sciences, University of Hawaii at Hilo, 200 W. Kawili Street, 96720-4091, Hilo, Hawaii

    Debra J. Vandervoort

  2. University of California, Berkeley

    David R. Ragland & S. Leonard Syme

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  1. Debra J. Vandervoort
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This work was supported by the Urban Mass Transit Authority of the United States Government Department of Transportation under grant CA-06-0160.

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Vandervoort, D.J., Ragland, D.R. & Syme, S.L. Expressed and suppressed anger and health problems among transit workers. Current Psychology 15, 179–193 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02686950

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