In profile, many of them also described a strong sense of instrumentality. Here she found a clear distinction along gender lines. Among men, anger fueled action. Given the limited scope and size of the study, Cox's results must be considered tentative. As a result, speculation about how women deal with their anger is just that.
Earlier research shows that keeping it all inside can put women at a health risk.
From a scientific perspective, anger is just one way that people experience stress. Bombarded by 7s and 13s, the subjects unconsciously readied themselves for escape, releasing a dose of adrenaline, which in turn caused blood vessels to constrict as their heart rate and blood pressure increased. Now this may be just the jolt that saved ancient man from the woolly mammoth attack, but over time, that kind of repeated physiological call to action takes its toll. In tests were more likely to exhibit early signs of heart disease. After all, the selling premise of self-help books is that they provide answers, not questions.