The influence of sex, gender, self-discrepancies, and self-awareness on anger and verbal aggressiveness among US college students

Among a sample of 445 U.S. college students, the authors examined the exten t to which individual differences (e.g., sex, gender, self-discrepancies, s elf-awareness) explained anger tendencies and verbal aggressiveness. Regres sion analyses showed that (a) the tendency to repress anger (anger-in) was explained by masculinity, desire to be masculine, and public self-awareness , R-2 =.19, F(11, 433) = 8.44, p < .001; (b) the tendency to express anger (anger-out) was explained by sex, masculinity, and public self-awareness, R -2 =.17, F(11, 433)= 7.38, p < .001; and (c) willingness to be verbally agg ressive was explained by sex, femininity, and private self-awareness, R-2 = .32, F(11, 433) = 16.94, p < .001. In addition, different types of individu al difference variables accounted for anger tendencies and verbal aggressiv eness across sex and gender categories, suggesting that anger and verbal ag gressiveness may be driven by different psychological processes across type s of participants.