The authors explored the construct validity of the Anger Expression Scale in a diary study of 49 college women. Participants completed seven diary entries per day for 8 days; at each assessment, they noted the occurrence of problems and anger episodes, indicated whether they had expressed any anger, and rated their current mood. Anger-in was broadly associated with the occurrence of unpleasant events and with the experience of various types of negative mood, suggesting that the anger-in scale may not be a specific measure of anger per se. Moreover, anger-in predicted negative mood and problem occurrence even after controlling for neuroticism. In contrast, anger-out was unrelated to reports of anger expression and all other aspects of daily experience.
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