Study Says Anger Drops After 50

While much research has explored how women experience depression during the menopause transition and early menopause, far less attention has been given to how they deal with heightened emotions like anger during perimenopause. A recent study now sheds light on that gap, revealing that traits linked to anger tend to decline significantly with age beginning in midlife. The findings were published in Menopause, the journal of The Menopause Society.

Anger, which involves antagonistic feelings toward a person or situation, often leads to intense emotional reactions and expression without much control. This differs from hostility, which is more closely tied to fear-based emotions. Some experts describe hostility as a constant state of being prepared for conflict.

Research into the effects of anger on women’s health, especially during midlife, has been ongoing since the 1980s, with much of it focused on cardiovascular conditions like high blood pressure and coronary artery disease. In one study, women who were more prone to anger (referred to as high trait anger) experienced increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure over a three-year span.

Later investigations looked at how anger and hostility relate to carotid atherosclerosis. These studies found that women with higher anger scores tended to develop thicker arterial walls (known as increased intima-media thickness) a decade later. Anger has also been linked to mental health challenges, including depression. Women who frequently struggle with anger are more likely to face severe depressive symptoms during menopause, particularly those undergoing hormone therapy to manage their symptoms.

To date, however, no study has accounted for the progression of anger traits through the menopause transition. The objective of this new analysis involving more than 500 women aged 35 to 55 years was to examine the influence of aging and reproductive-aging stages on women’s reports of anger.

Based on the results, the researchers concluded that chronological age is significantly related to most anger measures, including anger temperament, anger reaction, anger expressed aggressively, and hostility. Specifically, these forms of anger decreased significantly with age. Only anger suppressed was not related to age. Similarly, reproductive-aging stages significantly affected anger, resulting in a decrease after the late-reproductive stages. These results suggest that better emotion regulation may occur during midlife.

Additional study of women’s anger in the context of everyday life is recommended to effectively inform emotion regulation and anger management strategies and their consequences for midlife and older women.

Study results are published in the article “Anger, aging, and reproductive aging: observations from the Seattle Midlife Women’s Health Study.”

“The mental health side of the menopause transition can have a significant effect on a woman’s personal and professional life. This aspect of perimenopause has not always been acknowledged and managed. It is well recognized that fluctuations in serum hormone concentrations during the postpartum period, as well as monthly fluctuations in reproductive-aged women corresponding with their menstrual cycles and during perimenopause, can result in severe mood swings associated with anger and hostility. Educating women about the possibility of mood changes during these vulnerable windows and actively managing symptoms can have a profound effect on overall quality of life and health,” says Dr. Monica Christmas, associate medical director for The Menopause Society.

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