Registered Report: How Do Intensity and Regulation Strategies of Anger Vary by the Nature of the Relationship with the Target?

Abstract

Prior research on associations between anger regulation strategies and relational context has been limited by the absence of anger intensity measurement and the confounding of relational and situational factors. Using refined scenarios, this study examined the effects of target’s relative status and intimacy on anger intensity and four regulation strategies in a survey of 289 Japanese adults. Two-way ANOVAs revealed no main or interaction effects of relative status or intimacy on anger intensity or regulation strategies, except that constructive expression was higher toward equal-status targets than higher-status targets. Mediation analysis revealed that this effect was not mediated by anger intensity.