The Relationship Between Nurses’ Sociotropy–Autonomy Personality Characteristics and Trait Anger: Anger Expression Styles

Abstract

The aim of the study is to determine the relationship between the nurses’ sociotropy–autonomy personality characteristics and trait anger–anger expression styles. This study was conducted in a cross-sectional design, and the sample included 776 nurses in a university hospital. The sample consisted of 370 nurses who were selected by stratified random sampling method in a university hospital. The Sociotropy–autonomy Scale and the State-Trait Anger Scale were used in data collection. The mean value of the Anger-In subscale was 16.24 point, the Anger-Out subscale was 15.38 point, and the Anger Control subscale was 22.86 point. The mean value of the sociotropy level of nurses was 66.71, and the mean value of the autonomy level of nurses was 75.41. Statistically significant relationships were observed between the Sociotropy–autonomy Scale and the Trait Anger–Anger Expression Scales scores. The higher the sociotropy–autonomy personality characteristics of the nurses are in an investigation, the higher the Trait Anger, Anger-In, and Anger-Out scores are. Furthermore, the anger control expression style was only related to the “Concern About Disapproval” in a negative way.