By Misty Harris
Canadians may want to add tissue to their winter preparedness kits, with new research finding colder temperatures are strongly linked with greater propensity to crying.
The 37-nation study, to appear in the November issue of Cross-Cultural Research, is among the first to demonstrate that country traits such as climate, wealth, expressiveness, political freedom, degree of individuality and gender equality all contribute to crying behaviour.
Of these, mean annual temperature has one of the most powerful relationships with the frequency at which people are moved to tears.
In other words, Canadians might be onto something when they joke that winter’s arrival makes them cry.
“People living in cold northern countries cry more often than [those] in warmer countries,” says study co-author Ad Vingerhoets, a professor at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and a noted expert on crying.
“Does that mean that temperature really is the decisive factor? No, not necessarily.… But one could argue that in tropical areas, people live more outside in public places and thus will cry less than when being safe at home, maybe watching tear-jerkers or listening to emotional music.”
Vingerhoets further explains that, at best, just 25% of all crying is done in public. The rest tends to occur at home, with no strangers present, typically between the hours of seven and 10 p.m.
The study draws from thousands of men and women, aged 16 to 74, across North America, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, Oceania and South America.
In addition to temperatures, country wealth proved a valuable — and somewhat paradoxical — indicator of proneness to crying.
“Contrary to what some may expect, there’s no more crying in the poorer countries but rather in the more wealthy countries where people, in general, also report being happier,” says Vingerhoets.
“This suggests people are crying less because they are really deprived from basic needs, but probably more often due to stress, workload and rather mundane, everyday hassles than serious and major emotional events.”
Also relevant was a country’s extroversion and attitudes toward public displays of emotion. Western cultures in particular tend to have greater acceptance of crying, with Vingerhoets noting that these parts of the world often favour equality between the sexes.
Even so, gender differences in crying behaviour do persist. The sex hormone testosterone, for example, appears to diminish crying in men, whereas the female hormone prolactin potentially lowers the threshold for tears.
In addition, Vingerhoets notes that even in socially progressive countries, there are lingering stigmas about male crying in particular.
“There is a very delicate balance between being regarded as weak, not fit for a job, emotionally labile or manipulative and, on the positive side, empathic and sensitive,” says Vingerhoets.
“In one study it was found that men who had just tearful eyes (no flowing tears) were considered attractive by women, because they displayed at the same time sensitivity and emotional control.”
Though Canada wasn’t included in the study, this country’s wealth, expressiveness, political freedom, individualism and cooler temperatures leads Vingerhoets to believe it’s “very plausible” we’re a nation of criers. But maybe there’s just something in our eyes.