Characteristics of two groups of angry drivers.

High anger drivers acknowledging problems with driving anger and interest in counseling (high anger/problem [HP] drivers) were compared with high and low anger drivers not acknowledging problems with driving anger and seeking counseling (high and low/nonproblem [HNP and LNP, respectively] drivers). High anger groups reported more anger while driving; aggressive expression of driving anger; aggression and risky behavior; trait anger; impulsiveness; and aggressive, less controlled forms of general anger expression and less adaptive/constructive coping than LNP drivers. HP drivers received more tickets and experienced more minor accidents than LNP drivers. Although high anger drivers did not differ on reported anger, risky behavior, and impulsiveness, HP drives reported greater aggression on 1 measure, greater aggressiveness on 3 measures of driving anger expression, greater trait anger, and more aggressive and less controlled forms of general anger expression, suggesting HP drivers are somewhat more aggressive than the HNP group. Results supported the state-trait model of anger. Implications for intervention were drawn. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive-relaxation and social skills treatments of anger: A year later.

The present study provides a 12-month follow-up of a study by Deffenbacher, Story, Stark, Hogg, and Brandon (1987) that compared cognitive-relaxation and social skills training interventions for general anger reduction in college students. After 1 year both cognitive-relaxation and social skills subjects reported less general anger, personal-situational anger, anger-related psychophysiological reactivity, and trait anxiety than untreated controls. These findings suggested longterm maintenance of anger reduction and a generalization to anxiety that was not found posttreatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive-relaxation and social skills interventions in the treatment of general anger.

Social skill and cognitive-relaxation interventions for general-anger reduction were compared with a no-treatment control in a pretreatment, posttreatment, and 5-week-follow-up design. By follow-up, treatment groups reported significantly less general anger, lowered tendencies to suppress or exhibit general anger, and lowered state anger and greater constructive coping in an analogue provocation than did the control group. Cognitive-relaxation subjects reported significantly less personal-situational anger than did control subjects. Social skills subjects did not differ from either group on this measure. Cognitive-relaxation subjects also perceived their treatment as significantly more helpful than did social skills subjects. No group differences were found for physical and verbal antagonism in the analogue, though these measures were low in the initial assessment, or for trait anxiety, anger-related physiological reactivity, or daily anger intensities, though the latter approached significance (p?     

Anger reduction in early adolescents.

High-anger 6–8th graders received cognitive-relaxation coping skills (CRCS), social skills training (SST), or no treatment. Compared to the control, CRCS and SST were equally effective in reducing trait, general, and personal–situational anger and outward negative anger expression, as well as increasing controlled anger expression. On other variables, however, CRCS showed some superiority. Although both interventions led to equivalent reductions on one measure of anxiety, CRCS lowered depression, shyness, general deviance, and another measure of anxiety, whereas SST did not and was not significantly different from other groups. CRCS lowered school deviance more than SST. No between-group differences were found on self-esteem, alcohol consumption, or intoxication. Possible explanations of these findings were discussed, along with methodological issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fifteen-month follow-up of social skills and cognitive-relaxation approaches to general anger reduction.

This article presents a 15-mo follow-up of a study by J. L. Deffenbacher, G. A. Thwaites, T. L. Wallace, and E. R. Oetting (see record 1994-38333-001) that compared inductive social skills training (ISST) with skill assembly social skills training and cognitive-relaxation coping skills (CRCS) interventions for general anger reduction in college students. Compared with the control group at 15-mo follow-up, counseled groups reported lower trait anger, general anger, anger across many situations, and anger-related physiological arousal; less anger suppression and outward negative expression; and greater calm, controlled expression. ISST and CRCS participants also reported less anger in their worst ongoing, angering situation. More counseled participants showed clinically significant improvement on trait anger as well. In none of these comparisons did counseled groups differ among themselves. No treatment effects were found on nontargeted assertiveness and trait anxiety. Results are discussed in terms of long-term efficacy of treatments and of the importance of long-term follow-up. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anger style, psychopathology, and regional brain activity.

Depression and anxiety often involve high levels of trait anger and disturbances in anger expression. Reported anger experience and outward anger expression have recently been associated with left-biased asymmetry of frontal cortical activity, assumed to reflect approach motivation. However, different styles of anger expression could presumably involve different brain mechanisms and/or interact with psychopathology to produce various patterns of brain asymmetry. The present study explored these issues by comparing resting regional electroencephalographic activity in participants high in trait anger who differed in anger expression style (high anger-in, high anger-out, both) and participants low in trait anger, with depression and anxiety systematically assessed. Trait anger, not anger-in or anger-out, predicted left-biased asymmetry at medial frontal EEG sites. The anger-in group reported higher levels of anxious apprehension than did the anger-out group. Furthermore, anxious apprehension moderated the relationship between trait anger, anger-in, and asymmetry in favor of the left hemisphere. Results suggest that motivational direction is not always the driving force behind the relationship of anger and left frontal asymmetry. Findings also support a distinction between anxious apprehension and anxious arousal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relaxation and cognitive treatments of anger.

60 undergraduates, selected on the basis of scores on the Trait form of the State-Trait Anger Scale, participated in cognitive and relaxation coping skill interventions for anger reduction or in a no-treatment control. Ss also completed measures such as the State form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Depression Inventory. By 4-wk follow-up, cognitive and relaxation groups reported significantly less general anger, physical symptoms of anger, daily ratings of anger, and less state anger and tendency to cope with verbal antagonism in response to imaginal provocations than did controls and did not differ from one another. Constructive coping in the imaginal provocations and trait anxiety showed the cognitive condition improved relative to the control, whereas the relaxation group did not differ significantly from other groups. No between-groups differences were found for personal anger situations, depression, or heart rate and coping via physical antagonism in response to provocations. One-year follow-up revealed maintenance of patterns for general anger and anxiety reduction. Results are discussed in terms of the value of applied relaxation for anger reduction. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social skills and cognitive-relaxation approaches to general anger reduction.

Inductive social skills training (ISST), skill assembly social skills training (SASST), and cognitive relaxation coping skills (CRCS) training were compared with a no-treatment control condition for general anger reduction. At 4-wk follow-up, compared with the control group, all treatment groups showed equivalent reductions of the amount of anger experienced in a wide range of situations. ISST and CRCS Ss reported less anger in their worst ongoing provocation than did control Ss, whereas SASST Ss did not differ from Ss of other groups. Treatment groups enhanced anger control equally relative to the control group, but only the CRCS group significantly lowered outward, negative expression of anger, and only the ISST group reduced anger suppression, although active treatment groups did not differ from one another on these measures. The ISST group lowered day-to-day anger more than other groups. No treatment effects were found for nontargeted trait anxiety and assertiveness. Results are discussed in terms of prior findings and the efficacy and flexibility of ISST. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between parental anger and behavior problems in children and adolescents.

Two studies examined the relationship between parental trait anger, parental symptomatology, and children's and adolescents' emotional/behavioral problems. Results of Study 1 suggested that parental trait anger did not serve as a mediator between parental symptoms and children's emotional/behavioral problems. Study 2, however, suggested that parental trait anger did serve as a mediator between parental depression and adolescents' emotional/behavioral problems. For internalizing behaviors, inward anger expression and trait anger were mediators in father–son dyads, and outward anger expression was a mediator in mother–daughter dyads. For externalizing behavior, inward anger expression was a mediator in father–son dyads, and outward anger expression was a mediator in mother–son dyads. These results suggest the importance of examining parental dispositions toward anger in relation to the psychological symptoms family members may experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Type A behavior pattern and emotion expression in younger and older adults.

80 younger (M?=?28 yrs) and 80 older (>50 yrs, M?=?69 yrs) Type A and Type B Ss were evaluated for Type A behavior pattern using the Structured Interview (SI) and given personality tests for anxiety, depression, anger, aggression, hostility, and anger-in–anger-out. Ss also underwent an emotion induction procedure. Videotapes of the emotion induction procedure (N?=?160) and the SI (N?=?80) were coded for facial expression of emotion. Type As did not differ from Bs on anxiety or depression but did on anger and aggression. Type As showed anger inhibition and anger bound to shame, as predicted by emotion socialization theory. The greatest number of differential effects were observed between age groups. Older individuals, in general, were more emotionally expressive than younger Ss across a range of emotions. Women appeared more conflicted about anger expression than men, and Type A women more so than Type A men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Type A behavior pattern and emotion expression in younger and older adults": Correction.

Reports an error in the original article by C. Malatesta-Magai et al (Psychology & Aging, 1992[Dec], Vol 7[4], 551–561). A citation that was inadvertently omitted from the original article is provided. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1993-17168-001.) 80 younger (M?=?28 yrs) and 80 older (>50 yrs, M?=?69 yrs) Type A and Type B Ss were evaluated for Type A behavior pattern using the Structured Interview (SI) and given personality tests for anxiety, depression, anger, aggression, hostility, and anger-in–anger-out. Ss also underwent an emotion induction procedure. Videotapes of the emotion induction procedure (N?=?160) and the SI (N?=?80) were coded for facial expression of emotion. Type As did not differ from Bs on anxiety or depression but did on anger and aggression. Type As showed anger inhibition and anger bound to shame, as predicted by emotion socialization theory. The greatest number of differential effects were observed between age groups. Older individuals, in general, were more emotionally expressive than younger Ss across a range of emotions. Women appeared more conflicted about anger expression than men, and Type A women more so than Type A men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anger expression in Mexican American and White non-Hispanic adolescents.

This study explored aggressive anger expression in adolescents. A 3-factor model proved best (i.e., Expression through Verbal Assault, Physical Assault Toward People, and Physical Assault Toward Objects). These factors correlated positively with each other and with anger, anxiety, and depression. Correlations of aggressive anger expression styles with anger were larger than their correlations with anxiety and depression. Gender, ethnicity, and developmental effects were found; males reported more physical assault on people than females, and White non-Hispanic and older youths reported more verbal assault than Mexican American and younger, students. Both middle and high school students reported greater verbal assault than physical assault on objects which, in turn, was higher than physical assault on people. These findings suggest that adolescent aggressive anger expression is not unidimensional, but is more differentiated and meaningfully related to gender, ethnicity, and developmental status. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

State–Trait Anger Theory and the utility of the Trait Anger Scale.

Eight studies present support for the state–trait anger theory. In Studies 1–3, high-anger participants reported (a) greater anger in many different provocations, in their most angering ongoing situations, and in daily life, (b) greater anger-related physiological arousal, (c) greater state anger and dysfunctional coping in response to a visualized provocation, and (d) greater use of suppression and outward negative expression of anger. Only heart rate in the visualized provocation did not support predictions. In Studies 4–5, high-anger individuals suffered more frequent and intense anger consequences. In Studies 6–8, trait anger had higher correlations with dimensions of anger than with other emotions, cognitions, and behaviors. Few gender differences were found across studies. Results were discussed in terms of state–trait theory, convergent and discriminant validity for the Trait Anger Scale, anger expression, gender, and the implications for counseling. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety management training and relaxation as self-control in the treatment of generalized anxiety in medical outpatients.

55 23–72 yr old outpatients expressing interest in a 6-wk program on coping with stress and anxiety were assigned to 1 of 3 groups: relaxation as self-control (RSC), anxiety management training (AMT), or waiting-list control groups. Pre- and posttreatment assessments included the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List. At posttreatment and 4-wk follow-up assessments, AMT and RSC groups reported significantly less trait and state anxiety and stress reactivity in 2 stressful situations, general physiological arousal, person-specific anxiety symptoms, depression, and anger than the control group. Among these measures only 1 difference was found between AMT and RSC, and it was not significant at follow-up. No between-groups differences were found on systolic or diastolic blood pressure. No differences were found on resting heart rate posttreatment. At follow-up, however, the RSC group had a significantly lower heart rate than the control group. Results are interpreted in terms of both the efficient development of relaxation coping skills for medical outpatients and the potential for counseling psychology in behavioral medicine. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of alcohol intoxication on anger experience and expression among partner assaultive men.

The author investigated the acute effects of alcohol intoxication on anger experience and expression among 46 maritally violent (MV) and 56 maritally nonviolent (NV) men randomly assigned to receive alcohol, placebo, or no alcohol. Participants completed an anger-arousing articulated thoughts in simulated situations (ATSS) paradigm and imagined marital conflict scenarios. Anger experience was operationalized as subjective ratings of anger experienced during ATSS, and anger expression was measured as ATSS anger statements and aggression verbalizations. MV men given alcohol articulated significantly more aggressive verbalizations than all other groups, with high trait anger and increased anger experience predicting more aggressive verbalizations. Thus, alcohol may exert proximal effects on abusive behavior among individuals already prone to respond to conflict with increased anger. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of Forgiveness Therapy on Anger, Mood, and Vulnerability to Substance Use Among Inpatient Substance-Dependent Clients.

Anger and related emotions have been identified as triggers in substance use. Forgiveness therapy (FT) targets anger, anxiety, and depression as foci of treatment. Fourteen patients with substance dependence from a local residential treatment facility were randomly assigned to and completed either 12 approximately twice-weekly sessions of individual FT or 12 approximately twice-weekly sessions of an alternative individual treatment based on routine drug and alcohol therapy topics. Participants who completed FT had significantly more improvement in total and trait anger, depression, total and trait anxiety, self-esteem, forgiveness, and vulnerability to drug use than did the alternative treatment group. Most benefits of FT remained significant at 4-month follow-up. These results support FT as an efficacious newly developed model for residential drug rehabilitation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affective, cognitive, and behavioral differences between high and low procrastinators.

Examined the relation between academic procrastination and academically related trait measures among 379 university students, including 261 females, 117 males, and 1 S who did not specify gender. 126 of the Ss participated in weekly assessment sessions. Ss completed a procrastination assessment scale, the Test Anxiety Scale, a self-control scale, and a trait measure of attributions of success and failure 3 times when midterm examinations approached. Results indicate that more than 40% of the Ss reported a high level of procrastination. Self-reported procrastination was positively correlated with delay in taking self-paced quizzes and was negatively correlated with grade point average (GPA). High procrastinators, particularly women, were significantly more likely than were low procrastinators to report more test anxiety, weekly state anxiety, and weekly anxiety-related physical symptoms. High procrastinators were significantly more likely than were low procrastinators to attribute success on examinations to external and unstable factors. As the examination deadline approached, both high and low procrastinators perceived examinations to be less difficult, less important, and less anxiety provoking; reported fewer factors to hinder study behavior; increased their study behavior; and decreased delay. Implications for anxiety reduction as a procrastination intervention are discussed. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety and sensitivity to gaze direction in emotionally expressive faces.

This study investigated the role of neutral, happy, fearful, and angry facial expressions in enhancing orienting to the direction of eye gaze. Photographs of faces with either direct or averted gaze were presented. A target letter (T or L) appeared unpredictably to the left or the right of the face, either 300 ms or 700 ms after gaze direction changed. Response times were faster in congruent conditions (i.e., when the eyes gazed toward the target) relative to incongruent conditions (when the eyes gazed away from the target letter). Facial expression did influence reaction times, but these effects were qualified by individual differences in self-reported anxiety. High trait-anxious participants showed an enhanced orienting to the eye gaze of faces with fearful expressions relative to all other expressions. In contrast, when the eyes stared straight ahead, trait anxiety was associated with slower responding when the facial expressions depicted anger. Thus, in anxiety-prone people attention is more likely to be held by an expression of anger, whereas attention is guided more potently by fearful facial expressions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Coping as a moderator of the relation between anxiety and career decision making.

Examined relations among trait anxiety, coping types, career decision making, and state anxiety related to career decision making with 248 undergraduates. Trait and state anxiety were measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; career decidedness or indecision was measured by the Vocational Decision Scale. Coping types (support-seeking behavior [Type I], self-efficacy behavior [Type II], reactive behavior [Type III], and symptom-altering and/or avoidant behavior [Type IV]) were determined by an adaptation of a coping scale developed by M. Van Sell et al (1980). Results indicate that trait anxiety and low sense of personal efficacy (i.e., not using Type II coping) were the primary predictors of career undecidedness. Three discriminant function analyses revealed that Ss who experienced high trait anxiety and did not use Type II coping were likely to experience high state anxiety and were not likely to make a career decision. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tyrosine phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (p125FAK) and paxillin in glomeruli from diabetic rats

A study of group comprising all road accidents caused by drivers of private cars who were under the influence of alcohol (BAC > = 0.3 g/kg; X = 1.56 +/- 0.62 g/kg) that occurred in a defined area over the span of one calendar year (n = 625) was compared with a randomly selected control group of 718 road accidents in which the drivers had not been under the influence of alcohol. The drivers in the study group were marginally younger than the ones in the control group. However, there was no evidence of an alcohol related increase in the risk of an accident associated with younger age. The sex ratio in the study group corresponded to that, generally found amongst people driving under the influence of alcohol. In the study group there was no evidence of a restricted manner and extent of car use, based on the distances between the sites of the accidents and the offenders' homes. However, the proportion of accidents occurring out of towns was greater in the study group. Alcohol associated accidents occurred more frequently in the evenings and at night, which reflects habitual drinking patterns. Therefore these accidents occurred mainly in darkness and twilight. Surprisingly, unfavorable weather conditions such as rain or ice did not lead to an increase in accidents due to alcohol. In fact, in the study group, proportionally fewer accidents occurred on icy roads. Both injury to persons and damage to property were more severe in the study group. While no relationship between accident severity and blood alcohol concentration could be proven within the study group, the risk of death or severe injury was 3 to 4 times greater in this group than in the control group.