The Relationship of Anger and Social Skills to Psychological Symptoms

Abstract

The link between anger, social skills, and psychological symptoms was investigated in a college population. Seven hundred and nine individuals were administered the State Trait Anger Expression Inventory, the Anger Inventory, the Social Problem Solving Inventory, the Social Skills Inventory, and a series of questions about the degree to which anger affected their lives. Symptomatology was measured by the Brief Symptom Inventory and served as the criterion measure for a series of multiple regression analyses. Results indicated that both anger and social factors related to measures of psychological distress. Implications of the relationship between anger, social skills, and psychological symptoms are discussed in terms of research and assessment of individuals who may suffer from anger problems.

Psychiatric symptoms and community violence among high-risk patients: A test of the relationship at the weekly level.

“…This conclusion enjoys some empirical support. Although there is no evidence that the BSI Hostility subscale relates strongly to other measures of hostility, there is evidence that this subscale correlates moderately strongly ( r ≥ .40) with well-validated anger scales, particularly those that assess trait anger and expressions of anger (Conger, Conger, Edmondson, Tescher, & Smolin, 2003; see also Suris et al, 2004). The BSI Hostility subscale also shares its violence-predictive variance with anger scales (Vanni et al, 2004).…”

Anger and psychological symptoms relationship: mediator role of maladaptive schemas

“…For instance, studies related to the causes of physical abuse and self-harm behavior at early ages have indicated that individuals harm themselves to control the emotional distress they experience and punish themselves ( Aksoy and Ögel, 2003 ). To illustrate, anger/anger expression styles are connected with psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety and ruminative personality traits ( Conger et al, 2003 ; Harper and Arias, 2004 ; Erdur-Baker et al, 2009 ), eating disorders ( Oral and Sahin, 2008 ), and chronic pain ( Sayar et al, 2001 ; Oz et al, 2011 ).…”