Analyzing Adults’ Complaining Behaviors

Nowadays, complaining is pervasive and become universal behavior of everyone. However, there are huge negative energy involved in complain. It will have negative influence on people’s health, emotion and interpersonal relationship.This study aimed at, by semi-structured interview, discussing the characteristics which contained essential and diverse characteristics of adults’ complaining behaviors. Based on the quality results, this study developed a questionnaire of adults’ complaining behaviors. And then this study utilized it to investigate the current statue of adults’ complaining behaviors; explore the differences and interactional effects of demographic variables on complaining behaviors; analyze the relationships between personality traits, coping styles and complaining behaviors; and construct the factors model of adults’ complaining behaviors.This study is departed to two parts, the results of which are as follows:(1) The results of qualitative research showed that:(1)The interview outline of adults’ complaining behaviors have rational reliability and validity. It includes two versions which all have 9 items, one for complainers, and the other for their targets.(2)In essence, complain define as ―when encounter some unsatisfied and helpless frustrations, individual find third-party to disclose their discontent or annoyance, it is a verbal behavior which not focus on trouble shooting, and it embodied negative characteristic and always accompanied with negative emotion and behavior‖; the sense of security and empathy ability were key point of complainers chose their targets; based on the contents, complaining can be divided into 5 types, academic, family, work, environment and reality; according to motivation, complaining can be split into venting emotion, getting support, grabbing attention, removing responsibility, inspiring envy, starting a conversation, yielding to group, cooling someone; the consequence of complain contain direct damage and indirect benefits two types; words, emotions and behaviors are the major manifestations of complain; there are individual, environmental and event-related factors which will influence complaining behaviors.(3)Different adulthood stage have different complaining contents, even in same adulthood stage, the proportion of different types of complain are discrepancy. And there are remarkable differences between complainers and their targets, mainly in cognitive limitation and dissociation.(2) The results of quantitative research indicated that:(1)The questionnaire of adults’ complaining behaviors have rational reliability and validity. It includes 26 items and 6 dimensions which is venting emotion, getting support, grabbing attention, removing responsibility, inspiring envy, starting a conversation, yielding to group, cooling someone.(2) Adults’ complaining behaviors are at above average;(3)There are significant differences of sex, adulthood stage, education, marriage relation on complaining behaviors; in addition, sex and adulthood stage, sex and education, sex and marriage relation, adulthood stage and marriage relation have interaction effects on adults’ complaining behaviors;(4)Adaptability, passive coping style are positive correlate with complaining behaviors, when altruism are negative correlate with complaining behaviors;(5) Adaptability, passive coping style have positive predict ability to complaining behaviors, and altruism can negative predict complaining behaviors. Besides, adaptability and altruism also can indirect predict complaining behaviors through passive coping style.