Exploring the relationship of anger, sadness, and men's violence

This study explored the relationship of men's gendered emotional response patterns to difficult life events and men's violence in relationships. Using a framework informed by social information-processing theory and current theory on masculinity, two hypotheses were generated. The first hypothesis was that higher levels of anger would be associated with higher levels of violence. The second hypothesis was that higher levels of sadness would be associated with lower levels of violence. Survey data were gathered from men in a batterer intervention program and from men in a community-based sample. The independent variables included measures of anger and sadness. Response variables were measures of psychological aggression, physical assault, sexual coercion, physical injury, and other forms of abusive behavior. Participants were also asked open-ended questions about sadness.;The findings suggested that although there was some support for the hypotheses, the relationship between emotions and behavior is complex, and that different forms of abusive behavior have different etiologies. The findings also suggest that crying is a pro-social response to negative life events that should be encouraged in men, and that social workers need to be engaged in social change efforts aimed at reducing the level of male violence in society.