Anger and impulsivity in non-clinical women
Introduction
It is recognised that negative affective states can serve to trigger impulsive behaviours, and that those behaviours reduce or block awareness of such states (e.g. Evans and Lacey, 1992, Favaro and Santonastaso, 1998, Welch and Fairburn, 1996). Such behaviours include: self-harm (e.g. Shapiro, 1987, Suyemoto, 1998); suicidal gestures (e.g. Stein, Apter, Ratzoni, Har Even & Avidan, 1998); overeating and bingeing (e.g. Lacey, 1993, Root and Fallon, 1989); and drug abuse (e.g. Sussman, Dent & Galaif, 1997). Some studies suggest that anger may be a particularly important affective precipitant of some impulsive behaviours (e.g. Arnow et al., 1992, Arnow et al., 1995, Simeon et al., 1992, Soloff et al., 1994). However, there are two major weaknesses in the literature. First, research has tended to focus on internally directed impulsive behaviours (such as self-harm and bulimia), with less attention given to more externally directed behaviours (such as ‘daredevil’ behaviour or theft). Consequently, it is not known whether anger plays a precipitating role in impulsivity generally, or only in those behaviours that are internally directed. Second, it is problematic that studies have not always conceptualised anger in the same way. Some have treated anger as unitary (e.g. Arnow et al., 1992, Arnow et al., 1995), whereas others have focused on related concepts such as aggressiveness (e.g. Åsberg et al., 1987, Chowanec et al., 1991). It is clearly important to understand the multi-faceted nature of anger. Anger can be conceptualised either as an emotional state (which varies in intensity) or as a trait (a relatively stable personality characteristic) (e.g. Spielberger, 1996, Spielberger et al., 1983). Additionally, individuals can vary in the extent to which they will suppress or express their anger (Spielberger).
Given these gaps in the existing literature, the present study of a non-clinical population of women has two central aims. First, it will explore whether anger is generally associated with impulsivity. The second aim is to explore whether different components of anger are associated more specifically with internally directed or externally directed impulsive behaviours.
Section snippets
Subjects
Data were collected from 83 female volunteers, mostly drawn from an undergraduate population. Their mean age was 21.3 years (S.D.=4.78; range=18–50). Subjects were told that the study was an exploration of the links between emotion and general attitudes and behaviours.
Measures and procedure
Each woman completed the questionnaires in the following order, during individual testing sessions which lasted up to half an hour.
Results
Table 1 shows the women's mean scores on the STAXI. Their mean IBS scores were as follows: overall impulsivity=1.62 (S.D.=0.42); internally-directed scale=1.58 (S.D.=0.46); and externally-directed scale=1.70 (S.D.=0.480). All scores are compatible with those reported for other non-clinical samples (Penas-Lledo and Waller, 2000, Spielberger, 1996). It was therefore concluded that the population in the present study is comparable to those on which the tests were validated.
Table 1 also shows the
Discussion
The aims of this study were to explore whether a general relationship could be demonstrated between anger and impulsive behaviours, and to test the prediction that different components of anger would be associated with different types of impulsive behaviours (internally- and externally-directed). There was a link between anger and general impulsive behaviours (hypothesis 1), with particular links to trait anger and externally-directed anger (Table 1). However, this link was generally a product
Acknowledgements
R.-J.M. is supported by a research grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (Award No.: ROO429834565).
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