Anger expression as a predictor of mental health among school students of Kashmir valley

Background: Anger expression refers to the manner in which an individual expressed her/his emotional experience of anger (which may include anger-in, anger-out, or anger-constant). Anger-out is the tendency to express one's anger outwardly as negative manner which may involve the use of aggressive actions. Anger-in refers to the extent to which individuals suppress anger when they are experiencing negative emotions, whereas constant means that there is no change. Aim: The aim of the present research was to study the interaction of anger expression and mental health among school students of Kashmir valley. Method: One hundred and twenty school students with equal number of males and females were selected from different districts of Kashmir valley. The Anger Expression (Ax) scale and the Youth Self-Report (YSR) inventory were the tools for data collection. Results: Group comparisons between male and female students were not significant on the measures of anger expression (i.e. anger-in, anger-out, and anger-constant) and mental health (i.e. internal, external, and neither internal nor external). Anger-in and anger-out were significantly correlated with the mental health dimensions of internal, external, and neither internalising nor externalising). Whereas, the relation between anger control with external and neither internal nor external dimensions of mental health was negative; but, it was statistically insignificant. Multiple regression analyses yielded anger-out as a significant predictor of mental health (F=12.24; p<0.001). Twenty four per cent variance (R2 change=0.24; beta value=0.44) in mental health was explained due to anger-out (t-value=5.29; p<0.001). The results are discussed in the context of history of violence in Kashmir.