SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF EXPERIENCED ANGER

We investigated two social determinants (i.e., availability of social support and status differentials of the provocateur) for the degree of perceived anger in two populations. Because no suitable tool was avai lable, the conceptual and psychometric development and validation of a new vignette-based measure for angel level (STandardized Experience o f Angel Measure, STEAM) is described first. Two versions of STEAM were developed: one for students and one for community-living adults. Thro ugh a series of foul studies, two sets of a 12-item vignette-based que stionnaire were developed and validated. The resulting test had excell ent test-retest stability and high internal consistency. Using the new STEAM measure, a variety of analyses were conducted to test the hypot hesized influence of social determinants of anger. In the student samp le, presence of social support was associated with lessened anger, and in both samples decreasing status of the provocateur also led to less ened anger arousal. In addition, findings in both samples revealed tha t social support reduced angel when the provocateur was of higher stat us relative to situations of equal and lesser status. In the community sample, the availability of support was associated with greater inten sity of the anger experience in the lesser status condition than in th e equal or greater status condition. No gender main effects or interac tions were noted.