Findings:did you know women focus more on their emotions when sad; men focus more on their emotions when mad?

Question

'Such depressive rumination most often occurs in women as a reaction to sadness, according to research Nolen-Hoeksema conducted with Lisa Butler, PhD, of Stanford University. Men, by comparison, more often focus on their emotions when they're angry, rather than sad, she said.
The reason, Nolen-Hoeksema speculated, is largely cultural. "There are differences between what it's OK for women versus men to focus on emotionally," she said.

How might this affect mental health and behavior in each gender?

‘rumination’ definition:
Negative cyclic thinking, persistent and recurrent worrying or brooding'

'Probing the depression-rumination cycle’
http://www.apa.org/monitor/nov05/cycle.html

Females are "allowed" to get depressed (sad), while men are "allowed" to become angry.

Answer 1

Since the study is concerned with the connection between rumination and depresson, the more obvious conclusion is that women are getting unsatisfactory resolution of their sadness (and ruminate on it and get depressed) and that men get unsatisfactory resolution of their anger(and ruminate on THAT and get depressed about it.
___If it were really so acceptable for men to be angry, then one would expect their outcomes to be more satisfactory. On the other hand, women in the feminized West have complained about the "expectations" placed on them to "have it all", which aqre the result of their increasing freedom and power. Women aren't supposed to be sad, because their trajectory as a sex has headed upwards for decades. It's likely that those women who feel sad think that they have no excuse for feeling sad, and while other women are happily movin' and shakin' and embarking on bold new endeavors, the sad ones must be real losers .
___As far as men's anger goes, it's often said that men have more freedom in this area, but it's feminists who are doing the saying, and they have a lot of investment in believing it. But despite the way testosterone makes men's anger especially brutal internally to the men that are experiencing it, they get less slack to show it than women. Men's anger is far more likely to be treated as dangerous, even if their emotions have never been dangerous to anyone. So despite the greater effort required to hold it into check, there are more severe consequences for showing it. The implicit false accusation of danger is one thing that makes men's anger depressing, and the fact that many women manipulatively exploit this difficulty, with no social repercussions or even notice. Such exploitation isn't even on the gender-issue radar, except for the emotionally manipulative forms of girls' bullying, but this is considered only insofar as it affects other girls.
___The reasoning in this report seems to evince a fear of the counter-intuitive (intuition that has been shaped by the intellectual trends in the social sciences over the past several decades). It seems pretty obvious that one doesn't get depressed about one's behaviors that find general acceptance and no bad consequences. Pretzel logic for the sake of gender politics--nothing new about that.

Answer 2

I think you are right. Remember, boys don't cry! We try to raise our sons to be stoic and not have emotional reactions to events, whereas girls are allowed to sulk and sob and use all of these feminine reactions.

There is also a physical reason, for women's bodies change monthly as they go through their cycles, and emotions can be hinged upon these cycles. At certain times of the month, women can be very depressed. After childbirth is also a time when women can become completely enslaved by emotion.

I always thought my husband's anger was childish and I used to tell him, "The only emotion you can express is anger...like a little kid!" Now, I see that he was just being male, and I was having a female reaction to the fact that he had been conditioned not to show the same feelings I could express with no effort.

A few years ago, there was an actor named Alan Alda, and he was warm, sensitive, a bit weepy at times, and yet portrayed a brave doctor in a wartime setting on MASH. That was the era of the sensitive male, who could display emotions without scorn.

Now, the ideal is a man's man, strong and sturdy, the John Wayne "man-of-few-words" type, protecting his little missus from danger. These men don't shed tears, but drive fast and suffer from road rage, apt to resort to fisticuffs, taking out their frustrations with anger.

Answer 3

I do agree with you there. It is a cultural thing, especially here in the US. A good example of that would be a young boy falling from a tree and breaking his arm, now most would understand his crying...but I do think most people would love to see him get up, pop his bone back into place and kick the tree...then nonchalantly tell his mom that his arm may be broken. On the other hand if it is a girl, we assume she will run to her daddy crying and that is viewed as being just fine. I personally think that it should be okay for BOTH genders to cry and be upset publicly, or privately. Sometimes crying gets it " out of your system" and after wards you just feel better. Most men that I know who do not express their feelings ( only through anger and no other emotion) are the ones with high blood pressure, and are more at risk for heart attack. ( as are women I know who are the same way.) It is just not healthy to stay mad all the time, or cry all the time. A good balance is in order. To be able to do that...( in my opinion) is we need to re-evaluate certain things in our culture, and allow old ideas about gender to change. Good question by the way!! :)

Answer 4

Female are far more inclined to be eclectic with regards Their view towards emotions. They tend to gather in others. Men know that They are the only ones who can deal with Their feelings., and react accordingly. We are wired differently and there is not much that anyone can do about it.

Answer 5

this is simply b/c women have better control over their anger.
and men are looked down upon if they havent any control over their "girly emotions". i agree with you, although i do not think that this is fair.

Answer 6

To some extent, agreed

Answer 7

So what do women focus on when their mad and what do men focus on when their sad?

Answer 8

There are all kinds of findings, like that men are on average smarter than women (on average) and that women have really bad spacial awareness, how do you like them apples ?
Obviously you didn't see the world cup semifinal.

Answer 9

May be....... to some extent Yes.