Why Anger Subsides After 50: Surprising Results From a Study on Menopause

There is a wealth of research on women’s experiences with depression during menopause and early menopause, but few studies on women’s experiences with emotional arousal, such as anger, during perimenopause. A new study shows that anger traits in middle-aged women decrease significantly with age. The results of the study were published in Menopause, the journal of the Menopause Society.

Anger Traits During Menopause

Anger is defined as hostility toward someone or something, often accompanied by a tendency to feel and express it indiscriminately. This differs from hostility, which refers to an anxiety-inducing emotion. Some describe hostility as a constant readiness to fight. Studies on anger and its effects on the health of middle-aged women date back to 1980, but have focused primarily on heart disease, including high blood pressure and coronary heart disease. Further research on women and heart disease found that an increasing tendency toward anger (anger predisposition) over a three-year period was associated with an increase in systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Subsequent studies on the relationship between anger and hostility and carotid atherosclerosis showed that women with higher anger scores had high intima-media thickness 10 years later. There are also studies linking anger to depression. Women with anger problems are more likely to develop severe depressive symptoms during menopause. This effect was most pronounced in women who used hormone therapy for menopausal symptoms. However, to date, no study has examined the course of anger traits during menopause. The aim of this new analysis, which included more than 500 women aged 35 to 55, was to examine the influence of aging and reproductive aging phases on women’s reported feelings of anger.

Based on the results, the researchers concluded that chronological age is significantly related to most anger traits, including anger temperament, anger reaction, aggressively expressed anger, and hostility. In particular, these forms of anger decreased significantly with age. Only suppressed anger was not related to age. Similarly, stages of reproductive aging had a significant impact on anger, leading to a decline after the late reproductive stages. These findings suggest that better emotion regulation may occur in midlife.

Profound Impact on Overall Quality of Life and Health

Further studies on women’s anger in the context of everyday life are recommended to identify effective strategies for emotion regulation and anger management and their impact on middle-aged and older women. “Mental health during menopause can have a significant impact on a woman’s personal and professional life. This aspect of perimenopause has not always been recognized and treated. It is well known that fluctuations in serum hormone concentrations in the postpartum period, as well as monthly fluctuations in women of childbearing age related to their menstrual cycle and perimenopause, can lead to severe mood swings associated with anger and hostility. Educating women about the possibility of mood swings during these sensitive phases and actively treating the symptoms can have a profound impact on overall quality of life and health,” says Dr. Monica Christmas, associate medical director of the Menopause Society.