London: A new study has finally confirmed what many men have long cribbed -- "hysterical" women do take rows too much to heart.
Moreover, according to the Spanish study, women feel emotions more intensely than men when a conflict arises within the couple, the `Daily Express` reported.
However, men are behind most of these relationship rows as they are more likely to express powerful undermining emotions such as wrath or contempt, say the researchers.
In the study, 75 women and 67 men were exposed to a variety of situations in which a couple might experience an argument. Then researchers analysed the type of interpersonal emotions men and women feel, and the effect emotions have on the recurrence of conflicts.
When facing a situation where one partner offends the other or treats them disrespectfully, women felt miserable. If the scenario was one in which one partner was physically aggressive in an argument, women felt more disappointed.
Asked to describe how they felt in a row where "my partner shouts at me with frequency", women felt more sadness, while men experienced guilt.
In another scenario, such as one partner distorting an argument to be right, the research found that women felt sadness, while men were merely embarrassed. The study found that during an argument, men might be expected to have more powerful emotions such as wrath, anger or contempt.
Women, on the other hand, would experience more submissive attitudes like fear, sadness or guilt. But women do feel more intense emotions, both "nonpowerful" and "powerful".
"The socio-cultural context and gender-based roles assigned to men and women might have a relevant influence on generation of expectations concerning their role in relationships and in conflicts within the couple. Thus, as society establishes certain rules on the composition of male-female relations, it also establishes rules on how both are expected to act in certain conflictive situations," the researchers said.
The findings are published in the `Psychosocial Intervention` journal.