Developing a Theoretical and Empirical Ethnocultural Model Toward Predicting Crying Behavior in White College Women

Self reported crying behavior in White college women along with ethnocultural variables which may influence their crying behavior was examined. Another focus of the study was to begin the development of an ethnocultural survey of crying behavior. Questions concerning socioeconomic status, religiosity/ spirituality, interpersonal experiences, family members feeling about crying behavior, perceptions of same race and other race crying, White Racial Identity Attitude (Helms, 1990) and the East/ West Questionnaire (Gilgen & Cho, 1979) were used as ethnocultural variables. One hundred sixteen White women completed the survey during the first administration and sixty three of them completed the survey during the second administration. Test-retest reliability for the Crying Survey (CS) was good, L =.81; fair for the White Racial Identity Attitude Scale (WRIAS), r = .52, and poor for the East/ West questionnaire (EW), L = .34. The main hypothesis that White women from various ethnic ancestral groups (e.g.,: English, Italian, Irish, etc.) would cry for a longer period of time during the last reported crying episode or for a greater frequency when compared to other ethnic groups was not supported. Two principal component analyses were conducted on the crying survey and East/West questionnaire in order to develop survey sub-scales. Cronbach alphas were computed for CS and EW scales with reliabilities in the .50 to .85 range. WRIAS scales were calculated as suggested by Helms (1990). Canonical correlations were conducted between WRIAS, EW, and CS scales, the main finding was that women who felt fear and relief when crying also relates to contact and disintegration on WRIAS and tended to like technology on EW scale. ii Discriminant analyses were conducted to further explore the relationships between crying sub-scales, and eastern/ western world view, White racial identity, and ethnic group; no statistically significant relationships were found. A discriminant analysis using Crying, East/West, White racial scales as predictors could not (greater than chance or over 50%) predict ethnic group membership. A series of stepwise multiple regression (MR) analyses used crying scales (e.g., negative affect, interpersonal positive response, and family culture) and East/West scales (e.g.; feelings of inner peace, disdain for technology, adjustment to the environment, and western orientation) as dependent variables with WRIAS and EW items as independent variables. For two of the MRs with WRIAS items, not having talked about racial issues in a White women's family was related to predicting family culture about crying and interpersonal response to a crying best friend. There was general support for the emotional or psychological constructs of White Racial Identity. White women who felt blamed by Blacks and who felt uncomfortable on WRIAS items related to having a negative affect during their last crying episode. Crying duration seems to be related to contact, disintegration, and reintegration stage and inversely related to psuedo-independence and autonomy. Crying frequency is nearly just the opposite, relating positively to autonomy and negatively to contact, disintegration, and reintegration. Pseudo-independence also relates negatively to crying frequency but in lesser magnitude than contact, disintegration, and reintegration. Although highly speculative, these findings suggest there may be additional construct and/ or predictive validity


Preface
The field of Psychology is in the midst of tremendous change and growth. Much of this change is spurred on by the predicted future ethnic minority population growth and how well current psychological theory and research paradigms meet the needs of ethnic minorities. Many researchers and theorists question, and at times, reject outmoded psychological concepts and theories which have been based on data collected primarily from White men in the mid 1950s. Thus, there is a growing need and demand to develop a multicultural psychology.
As a researcher who also is African American, I welcome the inclusion of research conceptualized from a multicultural perspective particularly if the end result will increase teaching, clinical research, and practice competency.
My concern is that in our haste to augment existing psychological knowledge, or in our haste to produce psychological research with a multicultural focus that seeks to affirm people of colors' ( e.g.; African American, Asian American, Native American, and Latino/ a, etc.) culture, we do not ignore White culture and its influence on White psychological development.
This study is one small step toward understanding aspects of White culture and it's possible influence in White women's cultural and racial identity development and crying behavior. This thesis is written in manuscript format.   One of the earliest American psychological theories on crying phenomenon can be traced back to Frederick Lund (1928) in his paper entitled, "Why Do We Weep?" He describes physiological and psychological explanations of what happens when humans cry. He states that adults cry when they are happy or sad, to seek relief from tension, when they lose a prized object or loved one, when feeling sympathetic or self pity, being dramatic, and when seeing some sort of beauty (for example, seeing a butterfly or admiring the beauty of a flower). Much of the modern research on crying stems from this seminal paper. Gross, Fredrickson, & Levenson (1994) provide an excellent overview and discussion on the various social, psychological, and physiological explanations of crying.
Crying may be conceptualized as one of the earliest forms of vocal communication in humans. Recall the visceral response most of us feel when we hear a newborn baby, a child, or an adult cry. Instinctually, or because we may have learned how to respond socially, we ask: What is that person crying about? Crying, whether we portray it by the tears that fall down our face or with sobbing, communicates a powerful message to those around us (Hoover-Dempsey, Plas, & Wallston, 1986;. When a person cries it is often seen as an indication that a person is in physical or psychological pain (Zborowski, 1969).
Three types of explanations surface in examining crying behavior.
First, some researchers stress the biological importance of crying. Crying may serve as a "biological necessity" or as a mechanism that restores homeostatic balance to the organism, or from a bio-philosophical perspective, when a person cries he or she releases toxins from their body (Frey, Hoffman-Ahern, Johnson, Lykken, & Tuason, 1983) in order to "cleanse their soul." 2 Second, and in contrast, other researchers propose that socio-psychopolitical constructions of gender, and social learning theory play an important role in psychological explanations of affective expressions like crying. For example, women display more positive and negative emotions then men (Grossman & Wood, 1993;Labott, Martin, Eason, & Berkey, 1991;Trobst, Collins, & Embree, 1994) even though most people don't believe that females have more emotions than men (Fabes & Martin, 1991). Some psychologists suggest the encouragement of expressing "feminine-like emotions" like crying in girls and women is another way in which male dominated and patriarchal societies continue to oppress women (Bern, 1993;Eagly, 1995;Jacklin, 1989;Tavris, 1995).
Still, there is a social assumption that women cry because they are more emotional than men and that women will respond differently to crying in others. For example, Stein and Brodsky (1994) found that women and men respond differently to a crying infant. Women who listened to a tape of a wailing infant were more likely to emotionally self disclose than men who listened to the tape.
Third, from a psychoanalytical perspective, crying is believed to serve as a way to realign the internal sense of self which originated when the infant experienced conflicting feelings from the initial separation from her or his caregiver (Wood & Wood, 1984).
Irrespective of the etiology, frequency, and emotional dispositions relating to crying, the social acceptability of crying is different between boys and girls and between men and women in American culture (Kraemer & Hastrup, 1988a). Among children and adolescents, for example, some boys learn that it is not OK to cry whereas some girls learn that it is OK to cry (Hoover-Dempsey et al, 1986). This dichotomy extends to adults where it is perceived by both men and women, that it is okay for women to cry but not for men (Cretser, Lombardo, Lombardo, & Mathis, 1982;Hoover-Dempsey, et al, 1986).
There are also strong American social and cultural norms that dictate the location and frequency where crying is acceptable. Typically, crying is more acceptable at home than at work, and in private more so than in public settings. Crying frequency is also shaped by a social norm that says it should decrease as we mature (Hastrup, Baker, Kraemer, & Bornstein, 1986). 3 Much of the psychological research on crying has been based on self reported or observed crying behavior of White American college students or adults (Balswick & Avertt, 1977;Choti, Marston, Holston, & Hart, 1987;Cretser, et al, 1982;Frey, et al, 1983;Kraemer & Hastrup, 1988b); (see Appendix E for a selected overview of crying studies).  found women self reported crying more frequently than men. Similarly, Kraemer and Hastrup (1988b) found among 316 women and 181 men, who were predominately White, that women self reported crying more frequently than men. In another study, researchers found White men who adhere to "traditional" gender roles are less likely to cry when they are sad than men who adhere to "non-traditional" gender roles .
Besides gender differences other variables related to crying have been examined such as the relationship between crying and depression. There is a viewpoint among lay people and in the field of psychology that a person's frequency of crying is correlated to major depression. This viewpoint was not supported by an empirical study conducted by Kraemer and Hastrup (1988b ).
These researchers found that depression levels were not related to crying frequency and that crying did not necessarily relieve feelings of depression. 4 Absent from most studies about crying are the relevance and influence of ethnocultural variables. Previous research conducted on crying behavior was approached from a monistic stance, as if all White women and White men share the same White ethnic group membership (Carter & Parks, 1992) and White racial identity (Helms, 1992 The current study seeks to accomplish two aims: (1) to explore the ethnocultural influences of crying behavior in White college women and (2) to develop an ethnocultural crying survey.
In addition to the initial crying survey scale development, which includes several items created for this study, it seeks to examine the following questions: In the field of psychology (and other academic disciplines) the consideration of how worldview, racial identity, and ethnocultural perspectives shape the development of theory, research questions, classroom instruction, and clinical training concerns are increasing in importance (e.g., Arredondo, 1987;Helms & Carter, 1991;Hoare, 1991;Jones, 1985 and collectivism (where the group shapes the behavior of the individual) (Triandis, 1996 (Shaver & Brennan, 1991, p. 709). 6 Research conducted by Carter and Parks (1992) explored the relationship between worldview and ethnic group membership. They found "Irish Americans are more likely to prefer lineal social relations, to see human nature as basically good, to revere the past, and to feel in harmony in nature than are other White ethnic groups" (p. 502).
Could there also be a relationship between crying and worldview or crying and ethnicity? Perhaps people who espouse the eastern worldview perceive themselves as non-dualistic, crying behavior may not have the same social stigma attached to it when compared to people who espouse a western worldview, perhaps the eastern worldview person will view crying as "natural." In contrast, the western dualistic worldview person may be more conscious of what his or her crying may mean to themselves and others around them. Their concern may be to "control" their crying, to carefully manage the presentation of it , or to be selective as to where and when they cry.
Ethnicity is defined as a state or condition in which "members of a group share a unique social and cultural heritage that is transmitted from one generation to another" (Sue, 1991, p. 55). Ethnic groups have different themes which make them distinctive from other ethnic groups (Feagin & Feagin, 1993) and many of these themes are transmitted across generations via family rituals, family gatherings, family stories, and gender role expectations.

7
As stated earlier, crying is often seen as an indication that a person is in physiological or psychological pain. Zborowski (1969)  Identity formation begins the moment an infant enters the world.
"Identity means the partly conscious, largely unconscious sense of who one is, both as a person and as a contributor, to society" (Hoare, 1991, p. 46 (Atkinson, Atkinson, Smith, Bern, & Nolen-Hoeksema, 1993;Bern, 1993 Research conducted with all or mostly all White participants, and whose publication titles do not include the specifier "White," does not eliminate the possibility White cultural norms might influence aspects of White psychological identity development. Carter (1997) states: "Whites, while socialized in a racially constructed world, are taught not to be aware of themselves in racial terms. More importantly, in everyday language there is little recognition of the fact that race has personal significance for Whites, and as such, is an aspect of each person's personality and developmental processes" (p. 199).
Is it possible that White culture, and specifically feelings about crying transmitted over generations might influence aspects of psychological and emotional development?
9 Helms (1993) suggests that White adults will endorse different concepts of White racial identity. A brief overview follows: 1.
Contact --ignorance, naivete, or obliviousness to the sociopolitical implications of race as it is defined in this country;

2.
Disintegration--consciousness of race-related moral dilemmas and correlated personal disorientation;

3.
Reintegration --conscious and non-conscious idealization of Whites and White culture and denigration of that which is perceived not to be White;

4.
Pseudo-independence --intellectualization about racial issues based on a guiding philosophy that others should be helped to be more like Whites;

5.
Immersion/ Emersion --attempts to redefine one's own Whiteness from a non racist perspective and to re-educate other Whites in a similar vein; 6. Autonomy--internalization of a non-racist White perspective coupled with a willingness to eschew the benefits of racism as well as to avoid assuming that the sociopolitical experiences of Whites in America necessarily apply to other racial groups.
Caution must be raised in viewing this model as a linear stage model.
For example, it is not necessarily true that the person in the later stages of pseudo-independence, immersion/ emmersion, and autonomy possess a higher degree of self actualization. In one study, White racial identity attitudes were not found to be highly correlated to self actualization scores (Tokar and Swanson, 1991) or that people will progress from an earlier stage such as "contact," and then move to "autonomy." Helms (1993) clarifies this issue when she states that her stages "should be viewed as levels of racial complexity within the individual, with higher or more advanced stages representing greater sophistication in one's conceptualization skill with regard to one's own racial characteristics as well as those of other racial groups" (p. 241 ) and in subsequent presentations she refers to stages as ego statuses (Helms, 1997 Explore the relationship, if any, between crying behavior and worldview (eastern vs. western). I believe that women who have a more eastern worldview will report greater frequency and duration of crying than women who have a western worldview.
2. Explore stage of White racial identity with crying behavior.

Participants
Participants were recruited from an introductory psychology class (PSY113) at the University of Rhode Island. Three hundred seventy two students (231 women and 141 men) completed the surveys in either one or two administrations over a two week interval.
Of the 231 surveys completed by women, 52 of these were not retained for various reasons (i.e., missing codes, a preponderance of missing data, or she was a student of color Of the total 116 from the first administration, 63 of these participants completed the survey at the second administration with 62 (98.4%) identified as heterose xual and 1 (1.6%) identified as bisexual. The majority of students identified as freshmen or first year students 42 (66.7%); 9 (14.3%) sophomore; 6 (9.5%) junior; and 6 (9.5%) senior.
Insert Several variables, (e.g.; amuse, relief, surveys are good, self understanding is true learning) whose skewness and kurtosis were out of range, were logarithmetically transformed. WRIAS item distributions were left intact as suggested by Helms (1990).

Test-Retest
There was a two week interval between survey administrations. In order to determine test-retest reliability, all survey items from time one and time two were totalled. Pearson correlations were computed from these totals in order to determine test/ retest reliability. The Crying Survey had the highest test-retest reliability with a correlation coefficient, r = .81, followed by White Racial Identity r = .52, and the East/West survey r =.34; (see Table 2 for Test-retest survey reliability between all scales and administrations).
Insert Table 2 about here Principal Components Analysis on Crying Survey A principal components factor extraction with direct oblimin (oblique) rotation was performed using SPSS Factor (Norusis, 1997b) on 33 items from the crying survey. Items which intuitively and empirically worked well together were selected. The intended goal for principal components analysis was to create reliable sub-scales of crying behavior.
Eleven factors were initially extracted which had eigenvalues at or greater than one. For ease of interpretation, these were pared down to five factors. These five factors accounted for 59% of the variance of survey items .
Variables which related to the participants ' emotional state during the last crying episode, family culture about crying, and information about the response to a crying best friend were retained. Several criteria were used as decision guidelines in selecting the variables for the five factors; (1) a cutoff of at least .33 for a variable loading was required for possible retention on the factors, and (2) those complex variables which may have loaded more than .30 or higher on one or more factors were ommitted. The variables which loaded heavily within each of the five factors were then combined to create 5 seperate sub-scales of crying behavior.
Loadings of variables on factors and SMCs (communalities) are shown in Table 3. As indicated by SMCs (squared multiple correlations) all factors were internally consistent and well defined by the variables, most SMCs were in the range of .51 to .75, with the exception of the variable "do you think it is good to cry" which was .27, and "my best friend has cried in front of me" which was .45. Variables are ordered and grouped by size of loadings to facilitate interpretation. Interpretative labels are suggested for each factor and are described in Table 4.
Insert Table 3 and Table 4 about here

Crying Sub Scales
A principal components analysis of the crying survey was computed and variables which loaded on the five factors were selected for items on the crying sub-scales. Sub-scales of crying behavior were: negative affect, interpersonal responsiveness, feelings of relief, family perception or family culture about crying, and feelings of fear.
Cronbach alphas were computed for each crying sub-scales which indicated good internal consistency reliability as indicated by their range from .52 to .79 (Kaplan & Saccuzzo, 1993). On 3 of the 5 sub-scales (negative affect, interpersonal positive, and family culture), items were deleted in order to improve scale reliability. Items which comprise each sub-scale and omitted items are discussed in the following section.
Negative affect was originally composed of crying survey variables; contempt, anger, disgust, tension, confusion, and surprise, with alpha = .65.
By removing the variable "surprise " the reliability increased to .79.
Interpersonal positive response was originally composed of "when your best friend cries do you say comforting words," "when your best friend cries do you give him or her a hug," "my best friend has cried in front of me," and "do you think it is good to cry," with alpha=.62. When the variable "do you think it is good to cry" was removed, reliability increased to .78.
The Relief sub-scale was comprised of feeling contentment and relief, with alpha=.73.

18
Family culture sub-scale was comprised of perceptions of what family members felt about other family members crying, a negative endorsement of "not ok to cry," "how often a woman has seen her mother cry," and "how often a woman has seen her father cry," with alpha= .55.
The Fear sub-scale is comprised of pain and fear, with alpha=.52.  Table 5. Variables are ordered and grouped by size of loadings to facilitate interpretation.

Principal Components Analysis on East/West
Insert Table 5 about here East/ West Sub-Scales Since the E/W questionnaire had poor test/retest reliability, (r = .34), I decided not to follow scoring procedures suggested by the authors of the instrument. In order to facilitate interpretation, sub-scales were created for items (see principal components analysis on East/ West questionnaire).
Some of the items, (Gilgen & Cho, 1979) claim measure eastern orientation in fact loaded with items that fell under a factor which had mostly western items. For example, "I believe in a personal soul which will continue to exist after death" which (Gilgen & Cho, 1979) designated as a western item loaded on factors with their designated eastern items, for example, "I love to sit quietly just watching the clouds or a wild flower" and "A meaningful life depends more on learning to cooperate than learning to compete." A principal components analysis on east/west questionnaire was computed and variables which loaded on the four factors were selected for items on the four retained eastern-western worldview sub -scales.
Cronbach alphas were computed for sub scale which indicated fair reliability as indicated by their range from .52 to .70. Deletion of any of the items on any of the sub-scales would not have improved scale reliability and thus all were retained. Items which comprise each sub-scale are discussed in the following section. Interpretative labels are suggested for each factor/ subscale and are listed in Table 6.
Insert Table 6  Western orientation is composed of the best way to understand something is to subdivide it into smaller parts, anxiety is unproductive and self destructive, competition is good, and thoughts then to isolate people from their feelings, with alpha= .55.

White Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (WRIAS)
The WRIAS is comprised of five sub-scales: contact, disintegration, reintegration, pseudo-independence, and autonomy. Although Helms (1993) talks about immersion/ emmersion, from a theoretical perspective, this is not included as a scale in the White Racial Identity measure. Higher means on the WRIAS scale indicate stronger agreement with the scale. Items (range from 1 to 5, with labels of strongly disagree to strongly agree). All of the analyses conducted using WRIAS subscale scores were computed from administration 1, (N =116).
The majority of participants, for both administrations, scored on the pseudo-independence and autonomy scale. For administration 1, 33 (28.4%) women were grouped on the pseudo-independent scale and 73 (63%) on the autonomy scale . For administration 2 there were, 25 (40%) as pseudoindependence and 31 (49%) for the autonomy scale (see Table 7 for complete frequency and percentage data on WRIAS for both administrations, and Table   8 for a comparison of reliabilities from WRIAS studies).
Insert Table 7 and Table 8 about here Trends in White Racial Identity and Crying Means of crying duration and frequency of crying were computed and compared across WRIAS sub-scales (see Figure 1).
Insert Figure 1 about here As shown in Figure 1, the disintegration and reintegration scales have highe r means of crying frequency than any other scale. For crying duration, the highest mean is for the reintegration scale (see Table 9 for Duration and Frequency of Crying for White College Women by Ethnicity, Worldview, and Stage of White Racial Identity).
Insert Table 9 about here This lends support to the notion that these WRIAS stages or ego statuses suggest greater psychological incongruity or ambiguity in White women racial identity development. Also, worth noting is the wider distance between means for crying duration and crying frequency in the disintegration stage. This suggests that White women in this stage will cry more during a week but for lesser durat ion than in other WRIAS stages. opposite, it appears that crying frequency positively relates to autonomy and negatively to contact, disintegration, and reintegration. Pseudoindependence also relates negatively to crying frequency but in lesser magnitude than contact, disintegration and reintegration. It appears that the first three WRIAS stages tap into a different psychological identity development concept than the latter WRIAS stages.

Self and Other Perceptions of Crying between Men and Black Men
Several questions from the crying survey asked about self (and other) perceptions of crying behavior between White men and Black men. Figure 3 illustrates the self perceptions of crying behavior between a man and a Black man crying. More women felt like helping the crying man than helping the crying Black man. Insert

Multiple Regression Analyses
Six stepwise multiple regressions were conducted to determine if White Racial Identity or East/ West items could help in predicting aspects of crying behavior. All analyses were conducted using SPSS linear regression (Norusis, 1994c). Three crying sub-scales (family culture, positive interpersonal response to a friends crying, and negative affect) were used seperately as dependent variables, first with items from White Racial Identity next with items from the East/West Questionnaire as independent variables.
Crying sub-scales relief and fear were omitted from these analyses. Since questions on the crying survey did not ask about the nature of the specific crying episode, I felt that it would be too difficult to interpret how White Racial Identity and East/West items related to, or did not relate to feelings of relief and fear in crying behavior.
The first three multiple regressions explored family culture, positive response to a best friends crying, and negative affect as dependent variables with White Racial Identity items as independent or predictor variables. The last three regressions used the same crying sub-scales and explored East/ West items as independent or predictor variables.
With a cutoff point of three standard deviations from the mean as criterion for outliers, none were found for any of the six multiple regressions analyses. Three of the six MRs had no missing data and no suppressor variables were found, N = 116. Three MRs had one missing datum on the East/West items.
The first multiple regression was between a participant's belief about her family's feelings or culture about crying as the dependent variable and White racial identity attitudes as independent variables. Table 10 displays the correlations between the variables, the unstandardized coefficients (ID, the standardized regression coefficients (Beta), and B., R 2 , and adjusted R 2 · R for regression (.31) was significantly different from zero, E (2,113) = 6.06, 12 < .05.
Insert Table 10 about here Only two of the IVs contributed significantly to prediction of family beliefs about crying. "In my family we never talked about racial issues" and "I believe that White people look and express themselves better than Black people" were inversely related to family beliefs about crying. This suggests the more a women did not talk about racial issues in her family of origin, and a belief that Whites don't express themselves any better than Blacks relates to the family's positive beliefs about crying. However, only 10% (8% adjusted) of the variability of a women's crying behavior can be predicted by knowing scores on two of these IVs.
The second multiple regression was between positive interpersonal response to a best friends' crying as the dependent variable and White racial identity attitudes as independent variables. inversely related to having negative emotions during the last crying episode.
This suggests feeling discomfort about herself and not fully understanding Black experiences relates to experiencing confusion, tension, contempt, and anger during her last crying episode. Only 9% (7% adjusted) of the variability of a women's having negative emotion during the last crying episode can be predicted by knowing scores on two of these IVs.
The fourth multiple regression was between family beliefs about crying (csfamcul) as the dependent variable and east/ west items as independent variables. There was one missing data from the east/ west questionnaire. The fifth multiple regression was between positive response to a best friends crying as the dependent variable and East/West items as independent variables. There was one missing data from the East/West questionnaire.   The intensity of emotion experienced during a womens' last crying episode found in this study converged with findings from a previous crying study. In 1983, a study by Lombardo, et al, with 307 women indicated that most either slightly sobbed or really sobbed when crying (over 60%); this was also found in my study. This suggests that when women cry they typically sob or really sob (see Table 16 for full comparison between Lombardo et al, and my study).
There was also a similarity of self reported crying behavior between an experimental laboratory study (Gross, Fredrickson, & Levenson, 1994) and self reported emotions during the last episode of crying that I collected (see Table   17, Mean self report means of emotion during a film clip and emotion during last crying episode).
In a laboratory study conducted by Gross et al, (1994), they examined crying behavior women who had viewed a sad movie clip from the film, "Steel Magnolias". After viewing the movie clip, the women were asked to rank their emotions. The top five rankings (in descending order) were sadness, interest, amusement, tension, and pain. In my study, which did not explore the context or social situation in which the women cried, the reported emotions were (also reported in descending order): sadness, anger, confusion, tension, and pain. What is interesting to note here is the similarity of emotions experienced ( e.g.; sadness, tension, and pain) between two different methodological approaches.

Discussion
This study sought to examine self reported crying behavior of White college women from an ethnocultural perspective . Additional knowledge toward understanding crying behavior was gained by asking questions about how many times a women has seen her father and mother cry. For example, women reported seeing their mothers cry more than their fathers. This is new empirical data about how crying occurs in families. The majority of participants reported that it was ok to cry among family members. Here again, this is new empirical data that previous studies on crying have not reported. In addition to the quantitative approach used in this study, participants were asked to share their thoughts and feelings about their crying experiences. Some of these comments will be highlighted and discussed later in this section.
The main hypothesis that White women from various ethnic (or ancestral) groups (i.e.; Italian, Polish) would cry for a longer period of time during the last reported crying episode or for a greater frequency when compared to other ethnic groups (i.e.; English, German, and Irish) was not supported. Both canonical correlation and discriminant function analysis which examined crying behavior, White racial identity, and East/ West worldview, results were not significant and therefore could not be interpreted with any certainty.
A series of stepwise multiple regression analysis used crying scales (e.g., negative affect, interpersonal positive response, and family culture) and East/West scales (e.g.; feelings of inner peace, disdain for technology, adjustment to environment, and western orientation) as dependent variables with WRIAS and EW as independent variables. For two of the MRs with WRIAS items, not having talked about racial issues in a White women's family was related to predicting family culture about crying and interpersonal response to a crying best friend. The best predictor of crying behavior between family culture and East/West items relates to feelings of individuality, which accounted for over 25% of the variance in crying behavior.
There was a general trend which supported the underlying emotion or rationales of White racial identity development theory, for example, feelings of blame and feeling uncomfortable on WRIAS related to negative affect during the last crying episode. Crying duration seems to be related to contact, disintegration, and reintegration stage on the WRIAS and inversely related to pseudo-independence and autonomy. Crying frequency is nearly just the opposite; it relates positively to autonomy and negatively to contact, disintegration, and reintegration. Pseudo-independence also relates negatively to crying frequency but in lesser magnitude than contact, disintegration, and reintegration. Although highly speculative, these finding suggest there may be additional construct and/ or predictive validity in using White racial identity attitudes scales as a way to understand certain aspects of psycho-social and identity development in White college women.

Limitations
Low correlations between Crying survey, White racial identity, and England, and Italy) a_nd who attend universities in their homelands. By analyzing and comparing the data, between these countries and there American "cousin" counterparts, it might help us to understand the ethnocultural influences of crying behavior.
White racial identity is a complex psychological phenomenon to study.
Many of the participants may have never thought about themselves as being part of a race, and thus may have felt uncomfortable or baffled when they had to think of themselves as part of a racial group. Due to not wanting to appear racist, they may have had difficulty in honestly answering all the questions.
It might be helpful for Helms to include items which ascertain the potential of a person who fakes good or fakes bad.
Another difficulty with interpreting White racial identity, as it is described and conceptualized by Helms (1993) Gross, et al, 1994). Although responding to a best friend's crying was not explored in depth in previous crying studies, findings from this study suggest that crying might serve as one communication strategy in same sex and same race friendships. One participant clearly captures the use of crying as a communicative strategy: "Crying usually makes me feel better because when I cry, it's telling the other person that I'm hurting and need to know the truth about his or her feelings." Many of the other comments participants wrote about their crying experience fell along several main themes, for example, crying when alone, feeling angry, frustrated, or stressed, or wanting to cry but can 't, and feelings about race and crying.
"Sometimes when I cry I get so angry it feels like my head is going to explode. Very often after I cry I get a really bad headache. I often get lazy and depressed after I cry. It feels like I need to lay down because my body gets so worn out from crying." 39 and also "I'm usually very angry or depressed. I shake, clench fists and tighten up, get aggressive, feel like destroying something." While no questions asked about menstruation or hormonal influences and crying, the following excerpt points to the possible connection of crying with physiological changes: "Many times I find myself crying or being overly emotional right before my menstrual cycle every month. I know this is common in many women but the reason why is not clear to me." A small number of participants believed that crying had nothing do with race or racial experiences. and "I have experienced several different living situations. People's response to crying vary, but the opinion I have developed over time in an abusive household where adults rarely cried, to foster care, to a children's hospital, to being a parent myself as well as a wife and a caregiver to the elderly is that the expression of emotion through crying is healthy and to be encouraged and responded to positively-not to be distinguished either by sex or race." "I don't think that race has anything to do with crying." Comments, admissions, or beliefs like these shared by Whites, seem to support the assertion by some researchers about the complexities involved in exploring and examining White racial identity. White racial identity is characterized as White's seldom having to think about their behaviors as White culturally defined behaviors.
"Whites, while socialized in a racially constructed world, are taught not to be aware of themselves in racial terms. More importantly, in everyday language there is little recognition of the fact that race has personal significance for Whites, and as such, is an aspect of each person's personality and developmental processes" (Carter, 1997, p. 199).
Although some of the participants thought race and crying had no The third direction in crying research is to continue exploring interpersonal issues of family and friends, gender, sexual orientation, class, culture, racial identity issues, and their relationships to crying. Will a woman who identifies with her father assume his crying patterns or, if she identifies with her mother's crying behavior will her crying behavior closely resemble her mother's? How do sex roles or gender development identity issues relate to a young women's crying? I assumed that a young woman who closely identified with her mother will mirror her crying and further that her mother learned about crying from her mother and so on. Perhaps another question would be to ask about grandmother and mother's beliefs about crying behavior in order to explore these crying patterns. In closing, I believe that future crying research should be guided by a philosophy that seeks to legitimize and affirm crying as a positive emotional expression for women and men. There are many positive aspects to crying; it helps humans to feel connected, it may increase empathy in relationships, and strengthen relatedness. We should not treat these human qualities as secondary or exceptionalities (Rude & Burnham, 1995;Eagly, 1995;Hoover-Dempsey, et al, 1986 ). Crying is one way in which people attempt to communicate powerful and deeply felt emotions. The greater we can comprehend the complexity of crying behavior, the greater our chances to improve psychological theory, research, and practice.        A meaningful life depends more on learning to cooperate than learning to compete.
I believe in a personal soul which will continue to exist after death.
People should have the opportunity to work themselves out of the situation in life they are born into.

Technological Disdain
Variable/ Item Description

Kidney
The use of artifical kidneys and plastic hearts is going too far; it is unnatural.
Science-Science and technology have provided people with an illusion of progress; an illusion that they will later pay for dearly.
Possessions I get very little pleasure from material possessions.

Analyze
Complex problems cannot be understood by breaking them into small components and then analyzing each component. The best way to understand something is to subdivide it into smaller components and analyze each component carefully.

Anx Bad
Anxiety usually leads to unproductive and even self destructive behavior.

Compete
One of the most important things you can teach your children is how to compete sucessfully in the world.

Science+
Science is our main hope for the future.
Thoughts Thoughts tend to isolate us from our feelings.   3.10 * How long a women reported crying during the last time she cried **For classification of ethnic groups, I selected the ethnicity of the mother. Unless, as in some cases, there was only one ethnic group selected between the mother and the father, I then selected either father or mother's ethnicity to determine ethnic group. ***WRIAS=White Racial Identity Attitudes **** Calculations of Eastern and Western Worldview used methods developed by (Gilgen & Cho, 1979).   Adjusted R 2 = .07 R = .29* WBLAME = I don't understand why Black people blame all White people for their social misfortunes. Table 13 Stepwise Multiple Regression Adjusted R 2 = .23 R = .51* *12<.05. SU = Suicide is just plain wrong. GRAND PLAN = People are moving by some grand plan toward an historical goal. OWNGOAL = The ideal society is one in which each person by working individually for his or her own goals benefits everyone. ANLZEBD = Complex problems cannot be understood by breaking them into smaller components and then analyzing each component. LANGUAGE-= Language tends to interfere with our ability to experience things naturally and fully.    , due to rounding errors total percentages may not add to 100)       The enclosed packet contains a variety of questionnaires designed to LEARN ABOUT YOUR BELIEFS ABOUT CRYING. Please answer all the questions. On the scoring sheet, please darken in the oval (completely) with the response that closely matches your feelings about the question or statement.
All responses will remain anonymous. Please do not write your name on the scoring sheet. A consent form is enclosed for you to sign and to return with your completed answering sheet. This consent form will be kept confidential from your scoring sheet to ensure confidentiality. The results of the study will be written up in summary form and will be submitted to the appropriate Psychology journal. Thank you for your time and participation in this study.
I understand that I will be asked a series of questions about my personal feelings and beliefs about crying. I will also be asked questions about my racial/ ethnic background, emotional states when I cry, religiosity/ spirituality, family, and friends. I will complete the set of surveys at two times, today and two weeks after that.
I further understand that if I choose to participate I will receive class credits (2 activity points) as indicated by Dr. Su Boatright-Horowitz, Professor for Psychology 103.01, "Toward Self Understanding." I also understand that if I should decide not to participate in the study then I will be protected from any prejudice . If I choose not to participate, I will notify Dr. Boatright-Horowitz, and I will be able to obtain subsititute credits in another psychology study as listed on the Psychology department's student sign up bulletin board. If I choose to participate, I can DECLINE to answer any questions and I may withdraw from the study at any time. My part in this study is confidential. None of the information will identify me by name as all records will be identified with a code number.
Five point scale "disagree strongly (1) to agree strongly (5) When was the last time you cried?
When you last cried how long did you cry for?
When you cry do you ...

53.
(1) feel like crying but have no outward sign (2) have red eyes and a tear or two (3)

66.
Including yourself, how many people lived in the home in which you grew up?
(1) never (2) once or twice (3) 3-4 times (4) 5-6 times (5)  (1) They feel it is acceptable for him to express his emotions in this way (2) They would look down on him (3) They would feel like helping him (4) They feel that it is inappropriate in front of others (5) They feel it is an sign of femininity 73. How do you personally feel when you see a Black man crying?
(1) I feel it is acceptable for him to express his emotions in this way (2) I would look down on him (3) I would feel like helping him ( 4) I feel that it is inappropriate in front of others (5) I feel it is an sign of femininity 74. How do you think people react to the sight of a Black man crying?
(1) They feel it is acceptable for him to express his emotions in this wa y (2) They would look down on him (3) They would feel like helping him (4) They feel that it is inappropriate in front of others (5) They feel it is an sign of femininity 75. How do you think White people feel when they see an African American woman crying? (1) They feel it is acceptable for her to express her emotions in this way (2) They would look down on her (3) They would feel like helping her (4) They feel that it is inappropriate in front of others (5) They feel it is an sign of femininity 76.
Do you think crying helps you get your way? When you have made your decision, note the number that corresponds to it and Blacken in the proper space on your answer sheet using the pencil provided. If need be, please refer back to this KEY to avoid making any errors.
1. People should strive to return to nature.
2. Anxiety usually leads to unproductive and even self destructive behavior.
3. People should have the opportunity to work themselves out of the situation in life they are born into.
4. True learning is directed toward self-understanding.
5. People should try to harmonize with nature rather than manipulate and control it.
6. The only real progress humankind has achieved has been through science and technology.
7. I feel awkward and self conscious with most strangers.
8. I believe in a personal soul which will continue to exist after death.
9. The world keeps passing through cycles, over and over again, never really changing.
10. I get very little pleasure from material possessions.
11. One of the most important things you can teach your children is how to compete successfully in the world.
12. Meditation is at best a form of relaxation and at worst a dangerous escape from reality and our responsibilities.
13. I feel a real sense of kinship with most plants and animals.
14. Death really doesn't make much sense to me.
15. Money frees us from drudgery and meaningless work.
16. Language tends to interfere with our ability to experience things naturally and fully.
17. The use of artificial kidneys and plastic hearts is going too far; it is unnatural.
18. Inaction makes me very nervous and uncomfortable.
19. I believe in a personal god to whom I must account after death.
20. Material possessions are for me a deep source of satisfaction 21. It is within our self that we can find true enlightenment.
22. Science and technology have provided people with an illusion of progress; an illusion that they will later pay for dearly.
23. People are moving by some grand plan toward an historical goal.
24. Suicide is sometimes a noble and natural choice.
25. The main purpose of learning is to be able to get a good job.
26. The deep inner realm of human beings are basically primitive and evil.
27. If there is a soul, I believe that after I die it will lose its individuality and become one with the overall spirituality of the universe.
28. I cannot honestly say that it bothers me very much to step on an ant or bee deliberately. 68. It is primarily through thinking and classifying that our experiences take on meaning.