Personality, Gender, and Crying

This study examined gender differences in crying as well as associations between basic personality traits and self-reported indices of crying. Forty-eight men and 56 women completed the Five-Factor Personality Inventory and the Adult Crying Inventory. Substantial gender differences were demonstrated in crying frequency and crying proneness, but not with respect to mood changes after crying. As predicted, women reported a higher frequency of crying and more proneness to cry both for negative and positive reasons. For women, all these crying indices were negatively associated with Emotional Stability. For men, only a significant negative relationship between Emotional Stability and crying for negative reasons emerged. No clear links were found between personality and mood changes after crying. Multiple regression analysis revealed a significant predictive role of gender for crying proneness, even when controlling for personality differences, but not for crying frequency. Adding personality by gender interaction terms resulted in a disappearance of the main effect of sex, while significant interactions with personality factors showed up for crying frequency and general crying proneness. It is suggested that future research on the relationship between personality and crying should focus more on the underlying mechanisms of observed relationships. Furthermore, it is recommended that future research should examine the role of different emotion regulation strategies. In addition, biological factors, temperament, upbringing measures, and socio-demographic variables should be taken into account.