Proposal for a Pilot Study to Examine Work and Family Conditions Associated with Anger

Support a pilot study to examine work and family conditions associated with anger in preparation for an extramural funding proposal to NIH. Anger provocation theory underscores exposure to (1) unfairness/inequity, (2) frustration/goal impediments, (3) violations of the self, and (4) being the target of anger or aggression. The central aim of the proposed pilot study is to develop and pretest survey items to examine specific work and family sites of anger provocation. The design for the pilot study includes a 20-25 minute telephone interview of adults age 18 and older. The sample will consist of approximately 75 to 80 English-speaking adult residents of Maryland. CODA, a health research agency in Silver Spring, Maryland, will use random digit dialing to select the sample of telephone numbers from white page listings in Maryland. Statistical analysis will examine the psychometric properties of the items and assess whether or not they pattern into hypothesized clusters. It is expected that at least eight principal factors—four in the family and four in the work domains— will emerge in the analysis of the items. This pilot study will be the first study to explicitly develop and test items from theory about the sites of anger provocation in work and family contexts. In addition, these pilot findings will enhance the competitiveness of an RO1 application that responds to an NIH program announcement (PA-00-106: “Basic and Translational Research in Emotion”). That PA requests proposals to study social influences on emotion. The RO1 proposal is part of my long-term research interest in examining the institutional sources of anger and their consequences for health and well-being across the life course.