This study was to identify the relationships of trait anger, mode of anger expression, and perceived stress to mental health status in middle aged women.

The subjects were 157 middle aged women from 40s to 60s who lived in Seoul. Data was collected by questionnaire surveys using the convenience sampling. The instruments used for this study were Spielberger's trait anger scale and anger expression scale, Cohen, Kamarck, and Mermelstein's perceived stress and Derogatis's SCL-90-R. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, and Stepwise multiple regression with SAS/PC.

The trait anger of middle aged women indicated a significantly positive correlation to perceived stress(r=.180, p=.023) and mental health status(r.=021, p=.014). Anger-in(r=.237, p<.05), and perceived stress(p=.461, p<.01) showed significantly positive correlation to mental health status. The most significant predictor influencing health status of middle aged women was perceived stress, and anger-in and the variance explained was 27%.

These results suggested that middle aged women with high degree of trait anger is likely to be high in stress perception. Perceived stress and anger-in are major factors influencing mental health status.