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Journal of Social and Personal Relationships
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The experience and expression of anger, guilt, and sadness in marriage: An equity theory explanation

Laura K. Guerrero

Arizona State University, laura.guerrero{at}asu.edu

Angela G. La Valley

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

Lisa Farinelli

Augustana College

This study examines how expressions of anger, guilt, and sadness are related to (in)equity and marital satisfaction. Data from 92 couples demonstrated that being overbenefited was positively associated with guilt, whereas being underbenefited was positively associated with anger. For wives, being underbenefited was also positively associated with sadness. Results also revealed that (i) people who perceived equity reported using more constructive, prosocial emotional expressions, (ii) underbenefited people reported using more destructive, antisocial emotional expression, and (iii) overbenefited people reported using both prosocial and antisocial emotional expressions. Both husbands and wives reported higher levels of marital satisfaction when they perceived themselves to be treated equitably or to be overbenefited as compared to underbenefited. Results also suggested that angry feelings and aggressive expressions of anger mediated the relation between underbenefiting inequity and martial satisfaction, and that the way people express anger mediated the relationship between anger and marital satisfaction.

Key Words: emotional expressions • emotions • equity • inequity • marital satisfaction

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Vol. 25, No. 5, 699-724 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0265407508093786
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