Perceived stress, trait anger, modes of anger expression, and health status of college men and women.

Relationships among perceived stress, trait anger (general propensity to become angry), modes of anger expression, and health status were examined in a sample of 720 college students. Although stress was significantly correlated with trait anger and all four modes of anger expression, most correlations were of low magnitude. College men and women did not differ in trait anger, anger-in, or anger-out. Significant gender differences were found in only two modes of anger expression--discussing anger and expressing it somatically (women scoring higher on both). The contribution of anger variables to the variance in health status was negligible.