Trait anger, anger expression, stress, and health status of American and Turkish midlife women.

In a cross-cultural study, we investigated the relationships of trait anger, anger expression modes, and stress to physical and mental health in Turkish and American midlife women. Zero-order correlations and multiple regression analyses indicated that regardless of cultural origin, stress was a strong predictor of health status. Stress was negatively related to physical health and positively related to depression. Trait anger, the angry temperament dimension of trait anger, and anger-out were positively related to depression in both American and Turkish women. The negative relationship between somatic mode of anger expression and health was also consistent for both groups. However, anger-in was positively correlated with depression only in American women; suppression of anger was unrelated to health status in Turkish women. Cross-cultural comparisons indicated that Turkish midlife women were higher in trait anger, somatic anger symptoms, perceived stress, and depression than American women. American women, on the other hand, had higher scores on physical health status. These findings are discussed with regard to theory, previous research, and sociocultural context.