Men's Shame and Anger: Examining the Roles of Alexithymia and Psychological Distress.

Abstract

The psychological mechanisms connecting shame and anger among men remain underexplored. This study aimed to understand the potential roles of psychological distress and alexithymia in this pathway, both in the form of difficulty identifying and describing one's feelings. Self-report measures were completed by 1,000 men (age mean = 49.6 years; range = 19-86 years). Conditional process analysis investigated a moderated mediation effect to determine whether men's distress mediated the relationship between shame and anger, and whether this effect differed according to severity and type of alexithymia. Findings indicated moderated mediation, with psychological distress a significant mediator in the association between shame and anger. Furthermore, difficulties describing feelings (but not identifying feelings) moderated the relationship between shame and psychological distress. Men's shame can be expressed via anger when experiencing psychological distress, and the inability to express one's feelings exacerbates this pathway. Clinical and public health avenues to reduce the impact of alexithymia are discussed.Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2021.1977598 .