Hwa-Byung, known as an anger illness, was conceptualized in Korean culture and listed in the glossary under Culture-Bound Syndromes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Hwa-Byung develops when the emotions of anger have been suppressed for a long period of time and it becomes difficult to control those feelings. Common complaints of Hwa-Byung have two dimensions, psychological and physical symptoms. The prevalence of Hwa-Byung exhibits gender differences in that the majority of individuals who experience Hwa-Byung are women between the ages of 40 and 60. However, as the number of Korean immigrants in the United States continues to increase and their issues draw attention from researchers, the topic of Hwa-Byung receives little. Because Korean immigrants in the United States share a cultural background with their origin of ethnicity, and at the same time, may also assimilate the American culture during the acculturation process, this study will address the cultural differences in Hwa-Byung between native Koreans who live in South Korea and Korean immigrants in the United States. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to examine the differences and similarities of Hwa-Byung in native Korean middle-aged women in South Korea and Korean immigrants in the United States, roughly between the age range of late-30's to middle 60's, by investigating the influencing factors of stressful life events, stress response, anger expression, and demographic background. A sample size of at least 200 participants, required for each group, using both paper-pencil and web-based methods, depended on participants' preferences, which were influenced by a gap in ages and the level of familiarity with and/or ability to access Internet. Participants were randomly selected from major cities, both in South Korea (including Seoul, Incheon, Busan, Daejeon, and Gyeonggi Province) and the United States (including Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles), using similar proportions of ages for both groups for the equivalences of participants in cross-cultural research. Survey measures included five instruments: (a) the Hwa-Byung scale (Kwon, Kim, Park, Lee, Min, & Kwon, 2008); (b) Life Stress for Korean women (Chon & Kim, 2003); (c) stress response inventory (SRI) (Koh, Park, & Kim, 2000); (d) anger expression (Hahn, Chon, Lee, & Spielberger, 1997), and (e) demographic background that measured the variables used in this study. To minimize the weakness of language differences used in the different cultural contexts, survey packages for Korean immigrant participants in the United States were formatted in both Korean and English for each item. Thus, a translation process became necessary, especially for the Korean instruments of the Hwa-Byung Scale, Life Stress for Korean women and Stress Response Inventory (SRI), from Korean into Englishtwo of which were (originally developed by Korean researchers) . On the other hand, native Koreans submitted only the Korean version of questionnaires because they fully understood the meaning of questionnaire statements, as well as in order to get rid of possible distractions by the inclusion of English sentences.

This study was designed to remedy the current lack of information on the causes of depression among Chinese women in the United States. It is based on an integrated understanding of depression, anger, female gender socialization, acculturation processes, and Chinese cultural values. More specifically, this study aims to investigate the depressive symptoms in this population using a psychoanalytic conceptualization of depression as anger "turn-inward." The researcher hypothesized that after controlling for the effects of female gender role identification and acculturation level, anger suppression has a direct positive effect on depressive symptoms. It was also hypothesized that female gender role identification has a direct positive effect on depressive symptoms. Statistically significant strong positive relationships were found for both relationships. Results also suggested that acculturation level has a direct negative effect on depressive symptoms. However, neither the Chinese culture orientation nor the European American culture orientation was found to have a statistically significant effect on depressive symptoms. It is worth noting that the results of this study revealed that 90% of the variance in depressive symptoms was explained by variables included the path model in this study. Recommendations for future research and clinical practice are also discussed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oxford Graduate School, 2001. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 420-447).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oxford Graduate School, 2001. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 420-447).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oxford Graduate School, 2001. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 420-447).

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of Communication, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 58-59).

The thesis is focused on repressive coping style and self-reports of the anger. In the theoretical part are elaborated chapters concerning the definition of emotion, emotion regulation, coping and repressive coping style. The Repressors are characterized by unconscious denial of their own anxiety and self-image distortion within the low susceptibility to negative emotions. The research study focuses on the expression of anger by repressors and their comparison with other groups. Respondents (n=122) were divided into four groups using conventional questionnaires (STAI, MCSD): repressors (n=26), high-anxious (n=16), defensive high-anxious (n=47) and low-anxious (n=33). The aim of the study was find out differences in the expression of anger and trait anger. The hypotheses were partly supported, as the results in the expression of anger and trait anger pointed to differences between repressors and low-anxious and partly supported among other groups. The present study shows that repressors distort even other socially censored emotions, in this case anger.

Immunological correlates of anger conditions were investigated. Participants were 33 females and 36 males, ranging from 25 to 55 years old. Percentages of total T-lymphocytes, suppressor-T, helper-T, and ratio of helper-T to suppressor-T cells were measured. Differences were found between males and females for Anger Control and Anger Expression. For females, total T-cell percentages correlated with State Anger, Angry Temperament, Anger Out, and the combination of State Anger/Angry Reaction. Suppressor-T cell percentages correlated with State Anger, Trait Anger, Angry Temperament, Anger Out, Anger Expression, and the combination of Angry Temperament/Anger In. Helper-T cells correlated with State Anger, Angry Temperament, Angry Reaction, Anger Out, and Anger Control. Mindbody appears to function in a unified fashion.

Individuals responding in a socially desirable (SD) fashion, rather than in a manner that reflects their true behavior, has been a problem for self-report questionnaires since their inception. The purpose of this study was to examine the hypothesis that the probability an item is endorsed on a self-report measure of anger is directly proportional to the rated SD of that item. Eighty-two subjects completed the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory (BDHI), the Profile of Moods State (POMS), and the State- Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI). A probability of endorsement was computed for each of the measures' items. Twenty additional subjects rated the measures' items for SD. Each item's SD rating was paired with the probability the item was endorsed to produce a correlation coefficient for each measure. Results strongly support the stated hypothesis. Directions for future research are discussed.

Given the presumed importance of cardiovascular reactivity and the role of anger in the development of hypertension and coronary heart disease, this study is the first to jointly examine three related areas (i.e. gender effects, anger direction preference, and opportunity/no opportunity to aggress following an anger Inducing situation). The present study tested the following hypotheses: a) that cardiovascular reactivity would vary as a function of subjects' gender and direction preference; b) that the rate of cardiovascular recovery would vary as a function of anger direction preference and opportunity/no opportunity to aggress; c) that the subjective feelings of anger after harassment would vary as a function of gender, anger direction preference, and opportunity/no opportunity to aggress; and d) that the evaluation of experimenter's competency and performance would vary as a function of anger preference. 56 females and 49 males executed a math task while being harassed for "poor performance". Next, they were randomly assigned to either write a negative evaluation of the frustrator or to copy a neutral paragraph and then to circle some letters in another paragraph. Heart rate and blood pressure were measured intermittently throughout. Subjects' preferred mode of anger expression (i.e. anger-in versus anger-out) had been previously assessed and cross validated by self as well as peer evaluations. Results indicated that gender was a better predictor than anger direction preference for cardiovascular reactivity to harassment. Complex patterns of recovery were detected with Intriguing sex differences. Results on male diastolic recovery were consistent with a matching hypothesis of anger direction preference but only for anger-out males. In addition, subjective anger for males was related to opportunity/no opportunity conditions, whereas females did not show such a relationship. Female anger-ln's showed quicker systolic recovery than anger-out's. Lastly, the evaluation of experimenter's competency and performance did not vary as a function of anger preference. Therapeutic implications of the findings within the context of anger control as well as trends for future research are discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate