Abstract
Affect intensity (AI) may reconcile 2 seemingly paradoxical findings: Women report more negative affect than men but equal happiness as men. AI describes people's varying response intensity to identical emotional stimuli. A college sample of 66 women and 34 men was assessed on both positive and negative affect using 4 measurement methods: self-report, peer report, daily report, and memory performance. A principal-components analysis revealed an affect balance component and an AI component. Multimeasure affect balance and AI scores were created, and t tests were computed that showed women to be as happy as and more intense than men. Gender accounted for less than 1% of the variance in happiness but over 13% in AI. Thus, depression findings of more negative affect in women do not conflict with well-being findings of equal happiness across gender. Generally, women's more intense positive emotions balance their higher negative affect.
Keywords
Affect (linguistics)PsychologyHappinessDevelopmental psychologyBalance (ability)Social psychology
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Publication Info
- Year
- 1991
- Type
- article
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 427-434
- Citations
- 683
- Access
- Closed
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Cite This
Frank Fujita,
Ed Diener,
Ed Sandvik
(1991).
Gender differences in negative affect and well-being: The case for emotional intensity..
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
, 61
(3)
, 427-434.
https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.61.3.427
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1037//0022-3514.61.3.427