ANGER AND AGGRESSION DURING ROLE-PLAYING - GENDER DIFFERENCES BETWEENHORMONALLY TREATED MALE AND FEMALE TRANSSEXUALS AND CONTROLS

A role-playing study on anger was conducted in order to identify the i nfluence of sex hormones on individual and gender differences in irrit ation, anger arousal, and aggression. Different groups were studied: f emale-to-male and male-to-female transsexuals, with either group teste d after 3 months of cross-sex hormone treatment, and untreated control women and men, All subjects were exposed to a 35-min videotape of an individual tested in an aversive, physically stressful, and frustratin g situation in the laboratory. While watching, subjects were asked to imagine being in the same situation. Meanwhile, cardiovascular respons es were registered and the intensity of moods and aggressive behaviour were assessed. Apart from a clear effect upon cardiovascular arousal and anger-related moods, there were also some interesting differences between the four groups, the most interesting one being a stronger agg ressive response in the female-to-male transsexuals. Furthermore, inte resting information was gathered with respect to the issue of whether role-playing and actual experimentation provide valid tests of anger a nd aggression in real life. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.