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Development of the Crying Proneness Scale:

Associations Among Crying Proneness, Empathy,
Attachment, and Age
a a b
Christy A. Denckla , Katherine L. Fiori & Ad J. J. M. Vingerhoets
a
Gordon F. Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University
b
Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Tilburg University
Published online: 14 Apr 2014.

To cite this article: Christy A. Denckla, Katherine L. Fiori & Ad J. J. M. Vingerhoets (2014): Development of the Crying
Proneness Scale: Associations Among Crying Proneness, Empathy, Attachment, and Age, Journal of Personality Assessment,
DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2014.899498

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 Journal of Personality Assessment, 113, 2014
Copyright C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0022-3891 print / 1532-7752 online
DOI: 10.1080/00223891.2014.899498

Development of the Crying Proneness Scale: Associations Among

Crying Proneness, Empathy, Attachment, and Age
CHRISTY A. DENCKLA,1 KATHERINE L. FIORI,1
AND AD J. J. M. VINGERHOETS2

1
Gordon F. Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University
2
Department of Medical and Clinical Psychology, Tilburg University

Crying is a unique form of human emotional expression that is associated with both positive and negative evocative antecedents. This article
investigates the psychometric properties of a newly developed Crying Proneness Scale by examining the factor structure, testretest reliability, and
theoretically hypothesized relationships with empathy, attachment, age, and gender. Based on an analysis of data provided by a Dutch panel (Time
1: N = 4,916, Time 2: N = 4,874), exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggest that crying proneness is a multidimensional construct best
characterized by four factors called attachment tears, societal tears, sentimental/moral tears, and compassionate tears. Testretest reliability of the
Downloaded by [Adelphi University] at 11:02 22 April 2014

scale was adequate and associations with age, gender, empathy, and attachment demonstrated expected relations. Results suggest that this scale can
be used to measure crying proneness, and that it will be useful in future studies that aim to gain a better understanding of normal and pathological
socioemotional development.

Weepingthe production of emotional tearsis a typically and
uniquely human emotional expression that has received little at-
tention from behavioral scientists (Vingerhoets, 2013). To what
extent this lack of interest can be attributed to the fact that
Darwin (1872/1998) concluded that emotional tearing served
no purpose whatsoever is not clear. Nevertheless, in the sparse,
more recent literature there are some theories about the pos-
sible functions of crying, but research critically evaluating the
different theoretical positions is lacking. Globally, three major
theoretical positions can be distinguished (Vingerhoets, 2013).
First, there is the idea that crying helps to release excessive
emotional energy and functions as a kind of safety valve (e.g.,
Sadoff, 1966). As a logical consequence, preventing this outlet
might result in the development of several kinds of psychoso-
matic complaints. An alternative view is that the main function
of crying is in the interpersonal domain (Bowlby, 1969; Has-
son, 2009). Crying is then considered an effective means of
eliciting emotional support and succor and is even supposed to
inhibit aggression in potential assaulters (Hasson, 2009; Hen-
driks & Vingerhoets, 2006). Third, seen from a stress theoreti-
cal perspective, crying could be considered as a way of coping,
combining the just mentioned intra- and interpersonal functions
(Keltner & Kring, 1998; Vingerhoets, 2013).
Shedding emotional tears is a behavior that shows several
remarkable, until now hardly examined, developments with in-
creasing age including a change from a predominantly acous-
tical to mainly a visual phenomenon, as well as major changes
in the antecedents that evoke tears (Rottenberg & Vingerhoets,
2012; Vingerhoets, 2013; Zeifman, 2001). In addition, crying is
a behavior that is associated with several pathological states, in
particular brain disorders (e.g., Parvizi et al., 2009; Vingerhoets,
Received December 10, 2012; Revised January 22, 2014.
Address correspondence to Christy A. Denckla, Gordon F. Derner Institute of
Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University,158 Cambridge Avenue,
Garden City, NY 11530; Email: christydenckla@mail.adelphi.edu
1
2013), homesickness and grief (Vingerhoets, 2013), and depres-
sion (although the precise nature of this relationship is not yet
clear; Vingerhoets, Rottenberg, Cevaal, & Nelson, 2007).
Crying can be investigated in many different ways, using self-
reports, observations, or measures of psychophysiological and
brain activity depending on the research question (Vingerhoets,
2013). Unfortunately, until now adequate tools that assess cry-
ing have been lacking. For example, the 54-item Adult Crying
Inventory (ACI; Vingerhoets & Becht, 1996) was developed to
assess mood states and situations that might elicit crying and
has been used in exploratory work, but it was not developed
with a clear taxonomy guiding item selection. In addition, there
is confusion about the precise conceptualization of terms, such
as crying frequency and crying proneness. This has led to some
mixed reporting in the literature, whereby some previous studies
that aim to assess crying frequency have inadvertently employed
instruments (e.g., the Weeping Frequency Scale [Labott & Mar-
tin, 1987] or the Crying Frequency Scale [Kraemer & Hastrup,
1986]) that actually measure crying proneness (e.g., see De
Fruyt, 1997).
In this study, we report on the systematically and theoreti-
cally guided development of a measure to assess crying prone-
ness, which must be conceptually distinguished from crying
frequency. Distinguishing between crying proneness and crying
frequency is important because the two constructs tap differ-
ent aspects of emotionality: Whereas crying frequency assesses
the occurrence of actual crying behavior in response to recent
events (e.g., the breakup of a relationship or the death of a loved
one, but predominantly much more mundane and everyday situ-
ations, like conflicts, experiencing a rebuke, etc.), crying prone-
ness taps the self-reported probability of crying in response to
(hypothetical) situations that are universally more or less likely
to induce crying (like the death of a loved one or an exceptional
performance).
Following the recommendations of Vingerhoets (2013), the
term crying frequency thus should be reserved for the actual (or
estimated) number of crying episodes in a certain time period
 2 DENCKLA, FIORI, VINGERHOETS
(preferably 4 weeks). Crying frequency can be measured best
(apart from a diary method), by using two questions: How of-
ten did you cry in the past 4 weeks? How long ago did you
cry most recently? For the latter question a standard multiple-
choice response format is recommended (Vingerhoets, 2013).
The assumption is that those who cry more often will report a
more recent crying episode. The correlation between the two
measures (typically .55) supports this assumption (Rottenberg,
Bylsma, Wolvin, & Vingerhoets, 2008). The rationale behind
the use of both questions is that the first question, especially in
men, results in a highly skewed distribution that makes it less
appropriate for statistical analysis, whereas the answers to the
second question yield a more appropriate distribution.
Crying proneness, in contrast, refers to a more general ten-
dency to cry. A study among twins revealed that crying fre-
quency is mainly determined by environmental factors, whereas
crying proneness is best regarded as a more or less stable person-
ality characteristic and is associated with personality features
like neuroticism and empathy (Groen-Blokhuis, Middeldorp,
van Beijsterveldt, & Boomsma, 2011; Vingerhoets & Lensvelt,
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1998). To assess crying proneness, respondents are asked to in-
dicate how likely it is that they will cry when exposed to certain
emotional situations or when experiencing certain emotions. Be-
cause highly evocative events (e.g., the death of a loved one) are
generally relatively rare, asking individuals to rate their prone-
ness to cry to with respect to a rarely experienced event might
not result in an adequate representation of actual proneness to
cry in that specific situation because the respondent might not
have had that many opportunities to experience their prone-
ness in this particular circumstance. To address this limitation,
this new scale instructs individuals to rate their proneness to
cry in response to movies, documentaries, or books because
this allows individuals to rate those antecedents that might
evoke crying but that they have not necessarily experienced
directly.
DISAGGREGATING CRYING ANTECEDENTS
Accumulating evidence suggests that crying is not a uni-
fied phenomenon but rather a complex aggregation of contex-
tual, individual, and psychophysiological features (Rottenberg,
Bylsma, & Vingerhoets, 2008). From a strict physiological per-
spective all crying is the same, but it can have very different an-
tecedents and consequences. Although there can be little doubt
that, in adults, tears seem to be associated with happy situations
and sentimental reactions as well as with sad or traumatic situ-
ations (Darwin, 1872; Tan & Frijda, 1999; see, however, S. S.
Feldman, 1956; Vingerhoets, 2013), to date little research has
systematically examined crying in response to positive events
(e.g., a wedding or the birth of a child). Scheirs and Sijtsma
(2001) analyzed crying antecedents on the basis of the previ-
ously described ACI (Vingerhoets & Becht, 1997), which con-
tains both positive and negative situations and emotions that
are associated with crying, finding evidence for a three-factor
solution: (a) distress, (b) sadness, and (c) joy. These results
confirmed to a great extent earlier findings reported by Bindra
(1972), who also identified three prevailing separate categories
of emotional states prior to weeping: (a) elation, (b) dejection,
and (c) anguish.
The newly developed scale employs items that are based on
empirical findings in studies examining crying antecedents of
individuals at different ages, which resulted in 14 item pairs rep-
resenting positive and negative situations (e.g., death, lossbirth;
departure, separationreunion; competition, defeatvictory; au-
tonomy, extreme powerlessnessexceptional achievement, etc.;
see Vingerhoets, 2013). In this report, we examine latent fac-
tors and report on scale validity by comparing it to a number of
factors known to be correlated with various aspects of crying.
AGE AND GENDER IN CRYING PRONENESS
Vingerhoets (2013) and Rottenberg and Vingerhoets (2012)
postulated some notable changes in the importance of crying
antecedents with increasing age. Globally, the following three
patterns are distinguished; (a) those situations that stay impor-
tant as crying inducing factors all across the life span (loss,
separation, helplessness); (b) situations that show a significant
decrease in relevance for crying with growing older (pain and
physical discomfort); and finally (c) situations that gain im-
portance for emotional tears with increasing age (suffering of
others, positive events, tender feelings). The negative situations
concentrate on the themes of loss, helplessness, conflict, sep-
aration, and the related call for succor, whereas the positive
emotions might be considered situations that also induce a feel-
ing of being overwhelmed and the inability to express these
feelings (neither acts nor words can express the feelings) and
therefore also have a kind of helplessness as a core element. In
addition, they generally form the positive counterparts of the
negative eliciting situations.
How crying precisely develops across the life span has not
yet definitively been determined (Vingerhoets, 2013). Some data
suggest that crying decreases with increasing age, whereas other
data seems to point to the exact oppositethat aging lowers the
crying threshold (Charles, 2010; Hastrup, Kraemer, Bornstein,
& Trezza, 2001; Isaacowitz & Blanchard-Fields, 2012; Zeif-
man, 2001). Recent research reveals that with increasing age,
not only do cognitive changes occur, but there also seem to be
important developments in emotional functioning (Carstensen,
Pasupathi, Mayr, & Nesselroade, 2000). For example, accord-
ing to socioemotional selectivity theory, as people get older
and are more frequently confronted with their own mortality
due to illness or accidents, they focus more on emotion-related
issues emphasizing social bonds and close personal relation-
ships (Carstensen, Isaacowitz, & Charles, 1999; Carstensen &
Mikels, 2005). There is indeed some preliminary evidence that
older adults react more strongly to sad films, both in terms
of reported sadness and with greater physiological responses,
to include behavioral expressions of sadness (Seider, Shiota,
Whalen, & Levenson, 2011). Furthermore Sze, Gyurak, Good-
kind, and Levenson (2012) demonstrated age-related linear in-
creases in emotional empathy, physiological responses, and self-
reported distress in response to emotional films. Finally, in a
study on the meanings of television watching in older adults,
respondents reported an increased emotional sensitivity that oc-
casionally prevented them from watching certain programs that
had a high potential to make them emotional (Van der Goot,
Beentjes, & Van Selm, 2011). This highlights the complex re-
lationship between crying proneness and actual crying and the
important role of (self-selected) exposure to emotional stim-
uli. Compared with younger people, older adults indeed show
stronger emotional reactions to films depicting themes such as
the loss of loved ones (Kunzmann & Gruhn, 2005), but also
 CRYING PRONENESS SCALE
sentimenal issues like eternal love, self-sacrifice, and altruism
(Tan & Frijda, 1999). This leads to the hypothesis that age is
a major determinant of crying proneness, not only for nega-
tive reasons, but especially for positive reasons (Rottenberg &
Vingerhoets, 2012).
In addition, gender differences in crying proneness (i.e.,
greater crying proneness among women compared to men) have
been consistently demonstrated in the literature (Jellesma &
Vingerhoets, 2012; van Hemert, van de Vijver, & Vingerhoets,
2011; for a review see Bekker & Vingerhoets, 2001; Vinger-
hoets, 2013). Studies suggest that these gender differences are
present from as early as preadolescence (Jellesma & Vinger-
hoets, 2012; Van Tilburg, Unterberg, & Vingerhoets, 2002). Al-
though gender differences in crying proneness are a consistent
finding (Peter, Vingerhoets, & Van Heck, 2001; Williams, 1982),
some studies that investigated gender differences among crying-
evoking situations showed mixed findings (Morris & Williams,
1996). For example, Morris and Williams (1996) found no gen-
der differences in crying in response to highly evocative events
like the death of someone close, but did find that men demon-
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strated a higher likelihood to cry in situations such as feeling
happy, feeling tenderness toward someone else, or a religious
or awesome experience. Bylsma, Vingerhoets, and Rottenberg
(2008) also reported a similar likelihood of crying in response
to antecedents such as loss and suffering among both men and
women, but a relatively higher likelihood of crying among men
for positive events. Women, on the other hand, were relatively
more likely to cry because of antecedents that involved conflict.
Given the mixed findings to date and lack of clear theoretical
reasons for differences between the genders in terms of crying
antecedents, no detailed hypotheses have been formulated for
this study.
ASSOCIATIONS AMONG CRYING, EMPATHY,
AND ATTACHMENT
Previous studies have demonstrated associations between the
tendency to cry and several personality features (De Fruyt,
1997; Laan, Van Assen, & Vingerhoets, 2012; Peter et al., 2001;
Rottenberg, Bylsma, Wolvin, et al., 2008; Williams, 1982; for
reviews, see Vingerhoets, 2013; Vingerhoets, Van Tilburg, Boel-
houwer, & Van Heck, 2001). Perhaps best documented is the
positive association between crying proneness and both neu-
roticism and empathy. Those scoring high on neuroticism seem
to cry more easily for a variety of reasons, including weeping
when hearing music that reminds one of the past (Williams,
1982), and crying for negative reasons (among men only; Peter
et al., 2001). Empathy, defined as the ability to comprehend and
feel the momentary psychological state of another person, also
predicts crying. For example, Choti, Marston, Holston, and Hart
(1987) reported a positive association (r = .44) between empa-
thy and self-reported crying in reaction to a sad movie. Among
adolescent boys and girls, Van Tilburg et al. (2002) found that
empathy predicted crying proneness and crying frequency. Fi-
nally, Williams (1982) additionally identified strong correlations
between empathy and weeping reactivity among men (r = .52)
and women (r = .48). One possible explanation for the associa-
tion between empathy and crying proneness might be that highly
empathic individuals have a strong capacity to experience the
distress of others, in addition to their own distress. Thus, em-
pathy can be considered a personality feature that is associated
3
with an increased likelihood to experience distress, resulting in
a higher crying proneness.
Attachment style is another individual difference variable
that has been examined in relation to crying (Bartholomew &
Horowitz, 1991; Hendriks, Nelson, Cornelius, & Vingerhoets,
2008; Laan et al., 2012). Attachment style is defined as patterns
of expectations, needs, emotions, and social behavior that result
from a particular history of close relationships (Mikulincer &
Shaver, 2007, p. 25). Because crying has its origin in the sepa-
ration or distress call displayed by the helpless offspring of all
mammals, separation, loss, and powerlessness (and stimuli and
feelings closely connected with them) are the strongest elicitors
of crying. From here, crying behavior seems to have evolved
to convey empathic distress, societal distress, and, finally, the
opposite experiences from those previously enumerated (e.g.,
lossbirth, separationreunion, competition, defeatvictory; au-
tonomy, extreme powerlessnessexceptional achievement, etc.;
Rottenberg & Vingerhoets, 2012; Vingerhoets, 2013). Although
relatively few studies have examined the relationship between
attachment and crying proneness across the life span, findings
in other areas suggest associations among attachment and the
production of tears. For example, Bartholomew and Horowitz
(1991) compared crying frequency in four groups of young
adults with different types of attachment styles (secure, pre-
occupied, dismissing, and fearful). They found higher crying
frequency among preoccupied adults and reduced crying fre-
quency among dismissively attached adults. Related findings
suggest that individuals with dismissive attachment tend to cry
less in comparison to those with preoccupied and fearful attach-
ment styles, who report the most negative emotions while crying
(Laan et al., 2012). Although prior studies have examined the as-
sociation among attachment style and crying frequency, we are
not aware of any that have examined the association among cry-
ing proneness and attachment style, and therefore no hypotheses
were generated with respect to these specific variables.
THIS STUDY
Taken together, the scale reported here aims to tap four theo-
retically distinct antecedents of crying proneness. Vingerhoetss
(2013) analysis of how crying develops across the life span re-
sulted in global distinctions among four kinds of tears, described
broadly as attachment tears, societal tears, sentimental or moral
tears, and compassionate tears. The category of attachment tears
represents crying associated with emotional bonds formed with
other individuals, and societal tears captures crying related to
events associated with cooperative social interaction. Sentimen-
tal or moral tears are associated with events and situations that
are the opposites of the negative tears (e.g., separationreunion,
defeatvictory, conflictharmony, lossbirth, etc.). Finally, the
category of compassionate tears reflects crying associated with
exposure to depicted or described painful or negative experi-
ences of others. Physical pain tears are, theoretically, the basis
of these four kinds of tears, but they are not a focus of the as-
sessment reported here because, although physical pain tears
are extremely frequent and important in children until adoles-
cence, they rapidly and dramatically seem to lose importance in
adulthood (Vingerhoets, 2013).
We report on the psychometric characteristics of a newly
developed crying proneness measure. In this new measure we
aimed to have an adequate representation of the full range of
 4 DENCKLA, FIORI, VINGERHOETS

crying-eliciting events relevant for adults consistent with theory TABLE 1.Sample characteristics.
as outlined previously. We hypothesized a medium effect size
Variable n % M SD
between crying proneness and emotional empathy given previ-
ous studies that have identified a similar strength of association Gender
(e.g., Choti et al., 1987). We did not make specific predictions Male 2,262 46.0
about the association between empathy and crying proneness Female 2,653 54.0
for positive and negative antecedents given the lack of research Age 50.11 17.4
1524 515 10.5
in this area. As no previous studies have examined cognitive 2534 544 11.1
empathy in relationship to crying proneness, we also did not 3544 738 15.0
make specific predictions regarding this strength of association. 4554 918 18.7
Similarily, although prior studies have demonstrated associa- 5564 1,103 22.4
6597 1,098 22.3
tions among crying frequency and attachment style, no study Education
to date has explored the association between crying proneness Less than high school 433 8.8
and attachment style and therefore specific hypotheses were not High school (low-high) 1,619 33.0
generated. Beyond high school or university 2,245 45.6
Employment status
Not employed 2,613 53.2
Employed 2,303 46.9
METHOD Personal monthly income () 2,339 5,339
Sample 1,500 or less 619 12.6
1,5012,501 919 18.7
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Study participants were members of the Longitudinal In-
ternet Studies for the Social Sciences (LISS) panel. This
panel consists of a true probability sample of Dutch-speaking
households in the Netherlands and is nationally representa-
tive of the Dutch population in terms of education, employ-
ment status, income, and marital status (for more informa-
tion, see: http://www.lissdata.nl/lissdata/About the Panel). The
panel members were drawn from the population register by
Statistics Netherlands, a governmental advisory council. House-
holds that could not otherwise participate were provided with
a computer and Internet connection. Participants complete on-
line questionnaires monthly, and are paid for each completed
questionnaire
The analyses reported here were conducted on data from
the project called Interpersonal Effects of Crying, which in-
cluded surveys administered to the LISS panel. The project in-
volved two waves of administration separated by approximately
4 months (Time 1 N = 4,916, Time 2 N = 4,874).1 Table 1
displays the detailed sample demographics for the Time 1 sam-
ple. The mean age for the sample was M = 50.11 (SD = 17.4)
with an age range from 15 to 97. The gender composition of
the sample was divided fairly equally among men (40.5%) and
women (47.1%; note that percentages do not add up to 100% due
to missing data). Almost half of the participants had education
levels beyond high school (46.9%), a third of the sample had a
high school education (33%), and the remaining 8.8% reported
education levels of less than high school. The sample was also
split between those who were employed full time (46.9%) and
those who were not (53.2%). Average personal monthly income
was M = 2,339 (SD = 5,339) for the sample as a whole. Fi-
nally, half of the participants were either married or living with
their partner (51.4%), 10% were divorced or separated, 5.3%
were widowed, and 22.7% were never married.
1Missing data in subsequent analyses vary depending on model specifica-
tion because participants might not have provided responses to all variables
requested at both Time 1 and Time 2. Additionally, the Time 2 sample total
reported here includes participants who might have completed the Time 2 ques-
tionnaire but not the Time 1 questionnaire, and therefore these values are not
directly representative of missingness. As a result, the quantity of missing data
is presented separately for each model.
3,5004,500 457 9.3
4,501 or more 211 4.3
Marital/partner status
Never married 1,116 22.7
Married/living with partner 2,527 51.4
Divorced or separated 400 10.1
Widowed 263 5.3
Note. N = 4,916. Ns and percentages do not add up in some cases due to missing data.
Sample characteristics measured at Time 1.
Measures
Attachment. The Experiences in Close Relationships
Revised scale (ECRR; Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2000) is
a 36-item questionnaire that assesses self-reported adult roman-
tic attachment anxiety (18 items) and avoidance (18 items).
Responses are rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1
(strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Sample items include,
It helps to turn to my romantic partner in times of need and I
need a lot of reassurance that I am loved by my partner.
The ECRR has shown adequate reliability, testretest relia-
bility, and convergent and discriminant validity (Sibley, Fischer,
& Liu, 2005; Sibley & Liu, 2004). Latent variable path analysis
suggested that longitudinal measures of both subtypes of attach-
ment are stable over a 6-week assessment period (Sibley & Liu,
2004). The reliability coefficients among college undergraduates
were = .95 for attachment anxiety and = .93 for attachment
avoidance (Sibley & Liu, 2004). The ECRR has been translated
into Dutch and has shown adequate psychometric properties in
Dutch-speaking samples (Conradi, Gerlsma, van Duijn, & de
Jonge, 2006; Kooiman, Klaassens, van Heloma Lugt, & Kam-
perman, 2013). Among a sample of Dutch adults, the authors
reported adequate reliability coefficients ( = .86 for anxious
attachment and = .88 for avoidant attachment), although they
noted that these values are reduced from those coefficients found
among college student samples. The authors speculated that re-
duced reliability among the adult sample could be influenced
by the heterogeneity of the sample, as well as developmental
differences among adolescent and adult attachment styles.
This study employed a shortened version of the ECRR,
developed previously to increase utility in research settings
(ECRS; Wei, Russell, Mallinckrodt, & Vogel, 2007). This
 CRYING PRONENESS SCALE
12-item measure contains 6 items related to attachment anxiety
and 6 items associated with attachment avoidance. Although
psychometric properties were comparable to the 36-item
measure, reliability is somewhat reduced in the shorter version
among a sample of college students ( = .78 for anxious
attachment and = .84 for avoidant attachment). Analyses
of construct validity suggested that, as expected, excessive
reassurance seeking was significantly associated with anxious
attachment but not with avoidant attachment, and measures of
depression were associated with both types of attachment.
Reliability coefficients in this study were = .64 and = .76
for anxious attachment and avoidant attachment, respectively.
Given the lower reliability found in the current heterogeneous
Dutch sample used in this report, we computed reliability for
the shortened version of the ECR with the SpearmanBrown
correction. Using the reliability values reported by Sibley and
Liu (2004) for the longer version of the ECRR as a comparison
value, we found that the predicted reliability coefficients for
the shortened version of the ECR were = .81 for anxious
attachment and = .86 for avoidant attachment. Results suggest
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that reduced reliability will occur by using a shortened version of
the ECRR, consistent with the reduced reliability coefficients
reported here.
Empathy. The Basic Empathy Scale (BES; Jolliffe & Far-
rington, 2006) is a 20-item scale that assesses both affective
empathy (ones capacity to experience the emotions of another)
and cognitive empathy (ones capacity to comprehend the emo-
tions of another). Responses are rated on a 5-point Likert scale
from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Sample items
include, I can easily get caught up in the emotions of others
and I usually immediately note if my friends are afraid.
The BES has shown adequate psychometric properties. Both
subscales demonstrate acceptable reliability among a diverse
sample of adolescents (cognitive empathy = .79 and affective
empathy = .85; Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006). Reliability coef-
ficients in this study were = .71 and = .63 for cognitive (9
items) and affective empathy (11 items), respectively. Consis-
tent with theoretically based predictions, women tend to score
significantly higher than men on both cognitive and affective
empathy (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006). Construct validity of the
BES is evidenced in associations with alexithymia (negative),
prosocial behavior (positive), and verbal fluency in women (pos-
itive). The BES has been translated into Dutch and has shown
expected relationships in a sample of incarcerated Dutch youth
(van der Helm, Stams, van der Stel, van Langen, & van der
Laan, 2011).
Crying proneness. The Crying Proneness Scale (CPS) is a
newly developed 27-item scale (originally it was an 28-item14
pairsscale, but during the first administration reported in this
study, one item was unintentionally not administered) that as-
sesses individual variability in crying proneness, taking into
account both negative antecedents for crying (e.g., someone dy-
ing, separation, defeat, etc.) and positive antecedents for crying
(e.g., birth, reunion, victory, etc.). Complete CPS items can be
found in the Appendix. Item responses are recorded on a 7-point
Likert scale ranging from values of 1 (very unlikely) to 7 (very
likely). Items are introduced by the following instructions: How
likely is it that you are touched to the point of tears when you
see/read/hear the following events while you read a book or see
5
a documentary/movie. Participants are not directed to consider
a specific time frame when responding.
Approach to Statistical Analysis
First, we conducted initial exploratory analyses and frequency
examinations of the 27 candidate items to detect excessive skew-
ness or high intercorrelation among items. We then examined
missing data values to test assumptions of randomness follow-
ing recommendations outlined by Allison (2001). First, a max-
imum of 0.5% or 23 participants had missing data on one or
all of the Time 1 CPS items. Comparisons between those par-
ticipants with missing item responses on the CPS and those
with complete data did not reveal significant differences on age,
gender, income, educational level, attachment, or empathy. We
concluded that Time 1 data were assumed to be missing at ran-
dom (MAR). Similarly, comparisons between those participants
with and without at least one missing response to CPS items at
Time 2 did not reveal significant differences on age, gender,
income, educational level, attachment, or empathy and are were
also assumed to be MAR. Parallel and exploratory factor anal-
yses (EFAs) were conducted in R, version 2.31, psych pack-
age (Revelle, 2012), and confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs)
were conducted with Mplus (Version 4.0; Muthen & Muthen,
19982007) to model the factor structure for the scale. We fol-
lowed a split-sample cross-validation procedure to address the
biased upward model fit that can occur if a factor solution is
tested in the same data set from which it was created (Bollen,
1989). Therefore, EFAs were conducted on one random half
(N = 2,477) on the Time 1 sample, with the second half retained
for subsequent CFAs (N = 2,439). Because clusters of crying
antecedents are hypothesized to be independent of each other
and thus orthogonal (Vingerhoets, 2013), an EFA was fit using a
varimax rotation and Kaiser normalizations. Models were fit to
the observed data using principal axis factoring. Factor retention
decisions were guided by parallel analysis, which compares the
eigenvalues of the observed data with that of a random data ma-
trix of the same size as the original (Hayton, Allen, & Scarpello,
2004; Horn, 1965; Revelle & Rocklin, 1979). We also assumed
a model selection perspective as outlined in Preacher, Zhang,
Kim, and Mels (2013). Specifically, the root mean square error
of approximation (RMSEA) as a factor retention criterion is
reported following recommendations consistent with the fewest
number of factors for which RMSEA drops below .05.
In the next stage of data analysis, the results of the preceding
steps were used as a basis for conducting CFAs using the second
random half of the Time 1 sample (n = 2,439), as well as the
full Time 2 sample. To assess fit we used standard indexes to
evaluate both the statistical significance of our models and to
conduct model comparisons: the Comparative Fit Index (CFI;
Bentler, 1990), the RMSEA (Mueller, 2000), and the standard
mean square residual (SRMR). Established cutoffs indicated
acceptable model fit: A value of >.90 was considered marginally
acceptable, and any value > .95 was considered excellent for
the CFI; a value of < .08 was considered acceptable for the
RMSEA; a value of < .05 was considered excellent, and < .05
was considered a good model fit for SRMR (Schumacker &
Lomax, 2010). For all CFA models, factor means and variances
were constrained to be 0 and 1.00 to identify the model.
We then examined testretest reliability for each factor by
calculating an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between
 6 DENCKLA, FIORI, VINGERHOETS
Time 1 and Time 2. The ICC ranges from 0 to 1 and represents
the percentage of variance explained in the score by unit of ob-
servation (e.g., a respondents item score; McGraw & Wong,
1996). ICCs are considered to be excellent if greater than .74,
good if ranging from .60 to .74, fair if ranging from .40 to .59,
and poor if under .40 (Cicchetti, 1994). Finally, we explored the
construct validity of this instrument by conducting correlation
analyses and testing multiple hierarchical regression models to
examine associations between crying proneness and theoret-
ically linked constructs including age, gender, BES-assessed
empathy, and ECR-assessed attachment.
RESULTS
Exploratory Factor Analysis
Initial exploratory analyses and frequency examination of the
27 candidate items resulted in the removal of 2 items. Item p
(When someone has a great success/wins [also in a sporting
event]) was removed due to the redundancy with Item r (When
someone achieved something great) as evidenced by the high
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correlation between the two (r = .78, p < .001). Item bb (When
someone is experiencing an orgasm) was removed because of
marked skewness. We split the Time 1 data using randomized
selection procedures, reserving one half (n = 2,477) for the EFA
and the second random half for use in subsequent CFAs (n =
2,439).
Parallel analysis was conducted with the number of iterations
for the procedure set to 50 and principal axis factor method spec-
ified. We selected the default settings for missing data, which
include removing missing values and finding pairwise correla-
tions. Results suggested retaining six factors. In our data set,
the first observed eigenvalue (13.58) exceeded the first simu-
lated eigenvalue (0.22). The second observed eigenvalue (1.25)
exceeded the second simulated eigenvalue (0.17), the third ob-
served value (0.80) exceeded the third simulated value (0.14),
the fourth observed value (0.36) exceeded the fourth simulated
value (0.12), and the fifth observed eigenvalue (0.29) exceeded
the fifth simulated eigenvalue (0.11). Finally, the sixth observed
eigenvalue (0.10) exceeded the sixth simulated eigenvalue (0.09)
by a small margin.
Based on the findings from the parallel analysis, we conducted
a six-factor EFA using principal axis factoring with varimax ro-
tation. The first six eigenvalues were 5.85, 4.85, 3.29, 1.83,
1.21, and 0.37, and the RMSEA index = 0.058 (90% CI [0.056,
0.061]). However, examination of the loadings for the six-factor
solution revealed that no items loaded substantively (i.e., > |.24|)
on the sixth factor. Given the large sample size in this data set,
parallel analysis can lead to overestimation of the number of fac-
tors as a function of increasing sample size because eigenvalues
of the random data more closely approximate 1 as n increases.
Therefore, we conducted a five-factor EFA using similar pa-
rameters that returned eigenvalues of 5.81, 4.67, 4.15, 1.96,
and 0.44. Although the RMSEA index increased (RMSEA =
0.066 (90% CI [0.063, 0.068]) suggesting poorer fit, the fifth
factor again had no substantive item loadings (> |.28|). We then
conducted a four-factor EFA with similar parameters to those
previously reported, revealing eigenvalues of 5.84, 4.85, 4.03,
and 1.81. Although the RMSEA index = 0.077 (90% CI [0.075,
0.079]) suggested poorer fit, an examination of item loadings
on each factor suggested theoretically viable interpretation and
improved stability according to the retention criteria proposed
by Guadagnoli and Velicer (1988). For example, examination
of the loadings for the four-factor EFA revealed that the pattern
of item loadings on the first four factors was nearly identical to
that found in the five-factor solution, which further suggested
that the fifth factor might not be stable. Given the similarity
of the four- and five-factor solutions, only the four-factor solu-
tion and item loading values are presented in Table 2.
The factor loadings for the four-factor solution show a some-
what complex pattern with moderate to high loadings of items
on a single factor. All items had loadings of |.50| or higher and
a minimum of two items on the first three factors had load-
ings greater than |.69|. The fourth factor had three item loadings
that met our criterion, resulting in one item less than the four
items generally suggested by Guadagnoli and Velicer (1988)
to identify reproducible factors. However, we opted to retain
this as a distinct factor for two reasons: (a) two item loadings
associated with a conflict in a group and when people are
sabotaged in their efforts toward good plans (|.64| and |.56|,
respectively) are within the range of the |.60| target loading sug-
gested by Guadagnoli and Velicer to meet criteria for retention,
and (b) even though the third item a, A group thats working
harmoniously, cross-loaded on a different factor with a value
of |.56|, we elected to retain this item loading onto the fourth
factor given its theoretical association (emotions that could be
induced by conflict or social harmony). Taken together, EFA
results yielded a factor pattern consistent with theoretical dis-
tinctions. Finally, to ease interpretation, factors were labeled in
a manner consistent with the theoretical framework presented
previously to include attachment tears, societal tears, sentimen-
tal or moral tears, and compassionate tears. Correlations among
the four factors, presented in Table 3, ranged from r = .63 to .80.
Confirmatory Factor Analyses
To assess the relative fit for the hypothesized four-factor struc-
ture underlying the CPS, we carried out two CFAs. All models
were estimated using maximum likelihood estimation. We also
estimated unrestricted mean and covariance models. All CFA
models were fit to the observed data matrix, and the latent fac-
tors mean was fixed at 0 and the variance at 1. Finally, model
estimation was specified to include missing data values, which
means that missing values were estimated using standard max-
imum likelihood estimation and not imputed. Then, because
theoretical predictions suggest that latent variables will be or-
thogonal, we estimated all CFAs with uncorrelated factors. The
first CFA was conducted on the second random half of the base-
line Time 1 data, modeling a four-factor solution (n = 2,434;
note that 5 cases were not included because they had missing
values on all variables specified in this model), and results sug-
gested acceptable fit, 2(269) = 5,474.15, p < .001, CFI =
0.90, RMSEA = 0.089, SRMR = 0.043. We also generated the
same four-factor CFA using the full Time 2 data set (N = 4,306;
note that 568 cases were not included because they had missing
values on all variables specified in this model) and found sim-
ilar associations, 2(269) = 9,526.62, p < .001, CFI = 0.91,
RMSEA = 0.089, SRMR = 0.040.
Internal Reliability
Internal reliability estimates for each of the four factors per-
formed on the Time 1 sample were very good: emotional tears,
= .89; societal tears, = .86; sentimental or moral tears, =
 CRYING PRONENESS SCALE 7

TABLE 2.Factor loadings of the Crying Proneness Scale.

Attachment Societal Sentimental Compassionate

Item Tears Tears Tears Tears

d A wedding ceremony 0.72 0.22 0.34 0.16

b The birth of a child 0.71 0.10 0.31 0.19
a Someone dying 0.65 0.07 0.04 0.39
e People that say goodbye, leave each other, moment of departure 0.64 0.14 0.18 0.40
c A marriage that ends in a divorce 0.60 0.35 0.24 0.22
f People that see each other again after a long time 0.60 0.15 0.32 0.37
g A conflict in a group 0.31 0.64 0.37 0.19
i When people are sabotaged in their efforts towards good plans 0.18 0.56 0.45 0.35
h A group thats working harmoniously 0.26 0.53 0.56 0.18
l When someone is taken in by a group 0.21 0.21 0.74 0.33
n When someone is part of a very close group or camaraderie 0.21 0.26 0.74 0.30
v When you see a young person with a lot of potential and talent 0.21 0.24 0.73 0.24
j When people experience a lot of help for realizing their plans 0.20 0.24 0.67 0.28
t When someone is very happy 0.35 0.09 0.65 0.36
r When someone achieves something great (triumph) 0.28 0.09 0.64 0.38
x If you see something almighty, huge, and beyond understanding 0.27 0.20 0.60 0.32
o When someone experiences a rejection or loss (also in a sporting event) 0.19 0.27 0.58 0.33
s When someone feels miserable 0.37 0.11 0.28 0.71
q When someone feels powerless and helpless 0.27 0.19 0.38 0.69
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y When you see how bad the world is, and that people do terrible things to 0.24 0.17 0.33 0.67
each other
aa When someone is seriously hurt 0.35 0.18 0.29 0.65
k If someone without good reason is excluded from a group and not 0.23 0.23 0.41 0.64
allowed to be part anymore
m When someone feels lonely or has homesickness 0.29 0.19 0.45 0.62
u When you see someone who is very old, who is devalued, not wanted 0.31 0.17 0.38 0.61
around anymore because they look old/sick
w When you see something touching, small and frail 0.42 0.03 0.50 0.50

Note. Principal axis factoring, varimax rotation with Kaiser normalization. Loadings presented for the first split random half of Time 1 data, n = 2,155 (note that missing data values
were missing at random and subsequently not included in this analysis; therefore the total number of observations differs from the Time 1 split random half). Bold values signify primary
factor loadings.

.93; and compassionate tears, = .94. Raw score item correla-
tions are not described here for reasons of space limitations, but
ranged from .30 to .78 and can be furnished by the first author
on request.
TestRetest Reliability
The ICC was calculated according to previously established
methods to evaluate the 4-month testretest reliability of this
new measure (McGraw & Wong, 1996). Using a one-way ran-
dom effects model, ICCs showed acceptable levels for each fac-
tor, ranging in values from .51 to .67: attachment tears ICC (Time
1, Time 2) = .65 (95% CI [.63, .67]); societal tears ICC (Time
1, Time 2) = .51 (95% CI [.49, .53]); sentimental or moral tears
ICC (Time 1, Time 2) = .63 (95% CI [.61, .65]); compassionate
tears ICC (Time 1, Time 2) = .67 (95% CI [.66, .69]). Fol-
lowing guidelines previously established by Cicchetti (1994),
attachment tears, sentimental or moral tears, and compassionate
tears showed acceptable testretest reliability, whereas that of
societal tears should be interpreted with caution. Although the
large sample size affords relatively narrow confidence intervals,

TABLE 3.Intercorrelations among age, gender, empathy, attachment, and crying proneness factors at Time 1.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Demographics
1. Gender
2. Age .08
Crying proneness factors
3. Attachment tears .39 .12
4. Societal tears .18 .17 .63
5. Sentimental tears .37 .20 .67 .76
6. Compassionate tears .32 .20 .74 .68 .80
Construct measures
7. Affective empathy .36 .08 .39 .24 .26 .39
8. Cognitive empathy .14 .09 .09 .01 .02 .11 .24
9. Anxious attachment .06 .07 .13 .14 .12 .12 .21 .05
10. Avoidant attachment .02 .02 .05 .07 .06 .01 .10 .18 .24

Note. N = 4,916.

p < .05. p < .01.
 8 DENCKLA, FIORI, VINGERHOETS

the relatively long interval between test administrations makes TABLE 4.Hierarchical regressions for age and attachment criterion variables
it difficult to determine the relative influence of changes in af- predicting crying proneness.
fectivity between test administrations versus measurement error Crying Proneness Factors Model 1 Model 2 R2 Final R2
(Watson, 2004). Implications of these stability coefficients are
considered in more detail in the following sections. Attachment tears
Age .10 .14 .03 .04
ECRAnx .16
Criterion Validity ECRAvo .09
Societal tears
Table 3 presents the correlations of both age and gender with Age .18 .19 .02 .05
the four CPS factors and attachment and empathy. Both gender ECRAnx .14
(rs = .18.39, all ps < .001) and age (rs = .1220, all ps < .001) ECRAvo .04
were significantly and positively correlated with the four factors Sentimental tears
Age .21 .22 .02 .06
on the CPS. The correlations between CPS factors and affective ECRAnx .13
empathy were in the medium effect size range (Cohen, 1988) and ECRAvo .03
ranged from r = .24 to r = .39 (all ps < .001). A different range Compassion tears
of correlations was found for associations among CPS factors Age .20 .21 .02 .06
ECRAnx .15
and cognitive empathy, noting that significant associations were ECRAvo .03
in the small effect size range (r = .0911, ps < .01). Anxious
attachment comparisons also yielded small effect sizes (rs = Note. ECRAnx = Experiences in Close RelationshipsAnxious Attachment;
.12.14, all ps < .01), although significant associations were ECRAvo = Experiences in Close RelationshipsAvoidant Attachment.
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p < .001.
higher than the near-zero range of correlations noted between
CPS factors and avoidant attachment (rs = .05.07, all ps <
.05). and crying proneness were even greater. Introducing empathy
Given the known differences in crying proneness as a function into the hierarchical linear regression equation predicting crying
of gender and age, we conducted a series of regressions fitting proneness from age explained an additional 16% of the variance
age on crying proneness separately for men and women to more (p < .001) in both attachment tears and compassion tears. The
fully explore the hypothesized associations among age and cry- incremental increase in explained variance in societal tears was
ing proneness. All factors (attachment tears, societal tears, sen- 7% (p < .001), and for sentimental tears it was 8% (p < .001).
timental or moral tears, and compassionate tears) demonstrated Taken together, results suggest that both empathy and attach-
similar positive linear relationships between age and increased ment have a significant association with crying proneness above
proneness to cry for both men and women, although the strength and beyond that associated with age alone, pointing to the like-
of this association was different for each gender. The R2 and beta lihood of crying proneness functioning as a somewhat stable
coefficients for age modeled as a predictor for each of the CPS personality characteristic.
factors separately among men and women were as follows: at-
tachment tears, men, R2 = .05, = .22, p < .001; women, R2 = DISCUSSION
.01, = .11, p < .001; societal tears, men, R2 = .05, = .23, This article describes the development of the CPS, a new
p < .001; women, R2 = .02, = .15, p < .001; sentimental measure to assess crying proneness. Crying proneness refers
and moral tears, men, R2 = .06, = .25, p < .001; women, to the general tendency of an individual to weep, or, to put it
R2 = .04, = .20, p < .001; compassionate tears, men, R2 =
.07, = .27, p < .001; women, R2 = .04, = .20, p < .001.
Taken together, results indicated that although crying proneness TABLE 5.Hierarchical regressions for age and empathy criterion variables
increases with age among both men and women, the linearity of predicting crying proneness.
this association appears to be greater among men than that for
women. Crying Proneness Factors Model 1 Model 2 R2 Final R2
Finally, we sought to directly test the association among at-
Attachment tears
tachment, empathy, and crying proneness to further explore our Age .12 .16 .16 .18
assumption that crying proneness is a relatively stable personal- BESAE .40
ity variable. We conducted a series of hierarchical linear regres- BESCE .01
sions to test the incremental validity introduced by attachment Societal tears
Age .18 .20 .07 .10
and empathy above and beyond age when predicting crying BESAE .27
proneness. Results are presented in Tables 4 and 5. Briefly sum- BESCE .05
marized, introducing attachment predictor variables into a hi- Sentimental tears
erarchical regression equation resulted in a significant increase Age .22 .23 .08 .12
in explained variance for all four types of crying proneness, BESAE .28
BESCE .03
suggesting that attachment uniquely predicts crying proneness Compassion tears
above and beyond that associated with age alone. Specifically, Age .21 .24 .16 .21
attachment variables introduced an additional 2% of explained BESAE .40
variance (p < .001) in societal tears, sentimental tears, and com- BESCE .03
passion tears. An additional 3% of variance in attachment tears Note. BESAE = Basic Empathy ScaleAffective Empathy; BESCE = Basic Empa-
(p < .001) was explained by introducing the attachment vari- thy ScaleCognitive Empathy.

ables. The incremental predictive associations among empathy p < .05. p < .001.
 CRYING PRONENESS SCALE
differently, the individuals threshold to start crying. Previous
research suggests that this is a relatively stable characteristic
of the individual that contrasts with crying frequency, which is
mainly environmentally determined (Vingerhoets & Lensvelt,
1998). We report on the preliminary psychometric properties of
the CPS, suggesting a four-factor structure that yields accept-
able internal reliability, acceptable testretest reliability, and
adequate validity to warrant further research for use in studies
that examine the crying behavior of both men and women across
the life span. Assuming that this trait concerns a rather stable
personality characteristic, one could argue that the testretest
reliability is not very high. In the introduction, we indeed re-
ported about the probable genetic basis of this characteristic.
However, crying proneness could be temporarily impacted by,
or more permanently change under the influence of factors like
sleep deprivation, fatigue, hormonal status, mood, and alcohol
or drug use, as well as factors such as being engaged in a ro-
mantic relationship, having children, or experiencing a serious
disease or other traumatic experience (see Vingerhoets, 2013,
for an overview). All of these factors could contribute to lower
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temporal stability coefficients, particularly in this study given
the 4-month interval between testing periods. It is feasible that
major life events or changes in affective reactivity might have
occurred across this 4-month time period, thus reducing the
stability of measurement.
Our analyses resulted in the identification of four distinct,
meaningful factors that can be labeled attachment tears, soci-
etal tears, sentimental or moral tears, and compassionate tears.
Attachment tears captures crying associated with a change in
emotional bonds formed with other individuals, such as those
represented by deaths and separations, as well as their opposites
including weddings, births, and reunions. Societal tears capture
crying proneness for events associated with societal interac-
tions, such as working in groups or extending help to others.
A third factor, sentimental or moral tears, captures experiences
associated with moral or humane encounters and was generally
characterized by positive exchanges (e.g., experiencing a vic-
tory or being helped by a group). Finally, a fourth factor labeled
compassionate tears was associated with exposure to depicted
or described painful and negative experiences of others, such as
being hurt, feeling lonely, or experiencing powerlessness. These
four factors were generally consistent with theoretical predic-
tions and indicated some complexity beyond merely positive
and negative antecedents to crying.
Implications for Crying Proneness Across the Life Span
The relationships between latent factors and both gender and
age generally yielded the anticipated patterns. Across all four
factors, women reported a greater tendency to cry than men. In
addition, the relationships with age were notable. Our findings
suggest that the human proneness to crying continues devel-
oping until very old age, which seems to fit with recent find-
ings showing that older people, both men and women, react
more strongly and with more empathy to emotional stimula-
tion (Kunzmann & Gruhn, 2005; Seider et al., 2011; Sze et al.,
2012).
Taken together, study findings appear to lend support to so-
cioemotional selectivity theory, which suggests that people tend
to focus more on emotion-related issues that emphasize so-
cial bonds and close personal relationships as they grow older
9
(Carstensen et al., 1999; Carstensen & Mikels, 2005). Also,
the anthropological literature on ritual weeping emphasizes that
tears facilitate social bonding, which might explain why rit-
ual weeping is so central to many cultures (Dissanayake, 2008;
Vingerhoets, 2013). Results thus suggest that crying proneness
might increase with age as older adults become more focused
on emotion-related issues and social bonds.
Alternatively, one could wonder whether the increasing con-
frontation with significant others and ones own mortality with
increasing age might have a psychological effect, as, for exam-
ple, predicted by terror management theory (Solomon, Green-
berg, & Pyszczynski, 1991). Support for this notion is found
in the study by Goldenberg, Pyszczynski, Johnson, Greenberg,
and Solomon (1999), who demonstrated that reminding study
participants of their mortality increased their liking for and emo-
tional responses to a tragic excerpt from a novel. Compared to
control persons who were exposed to a neutral text, participants
in the mortality salience condition responded more emotionally
to the tragic excerpt. Both theoretical perspectives shed some
light on why crying proneness might increase with age, as we
report in this study.
An evolutionary-based explanation for the increased crying
proneness with age is also possible; with increasing age people
become more strongly genetically rooted in society as they be-
gin to have children and grandchildren who produce offspring
(Rottenberg & Vingerhoets, 2012). That means that the indi-
viduals genes become more widely spread over a larger group
of people across society. Developments in society thus become
increasingly relevant to the individual, or more precisely, to his
or her genes, which could explain why societal developments
and moral acts might be more likely to elicit tearful reactions
with increasing age.
A final possible explanation for the changes in crying prone-
ness for men across the life span might relate to underlying
physiological features of the aging process. Given its inhibitory
influences on crying, decreasing testosterone levels in men with
aging suggests a possible explanation for increases in crying
proneness among men with increasing age (H. A. Feldman
et al., 2002). These decreasing testosterone levels might ex-
plain in part why, with increasing age, men are more likely to
cry for multiple antecedents. However, an underlying physio-
logical mechanism that might explain comparable changes in
women is less obvious.
Implications for Crying Proneness and Individual
Difference Variables
As predicted, and consistent with previous work (e.g., Choti
et al., 1987; Van Tilburg et al., 2002; Williams, 1982), crying was
positively associated with affective empathy. On the other hand,
similar positive and significant correlations were not generally
found for cognitive empathy. Although we did not make specific
predictions about differences between affective and cognitive
empathy, it is telling that affective empathy (ones capacity to
experience the emotions of another) is more closely tied to all
types of crying than is cognitive empathy (ones capacity to
comprehend the emotions of another). Simply understanding
the emotion that another person is feeling does not suffice to
induce crying, whereas actually experiencing the emotions that
the other person is feeling apparently could more easily cause
an individual to cross the crying threshold.
 10
In a similar vein, the associations between crying proneness
and anxious attachment were positive and significant, although
the magnitude of the correlations was in the small effect size
range and given the large sample size in this study, these findings
should be interpreted with caution. Correlations with avoidant
attachment were near zero and in some cases not significant.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that, although rather weak,
avoidant attachment shows a slightly negative association with
attachment tears, whereas the links with the other tears are posi-
tive. This seems to fit previous findings that also identified weak
negative associations between crying and avoidant attachment
(Laan et al., 2012). Given that avoidant attachment is charac-
terized by a fundamental mistrust and a defensive devaluing of
relationships (Consedine & Magai, 2003), a preference for self-
reliance (Magai, Consedine, Neugut, & Herschman, 2007), and
a tendency toward repressing emotions (Kafetsios & Sideridis,
2006), it is not surprising that individuals with this attachment
style do, if anything, demonstrate negative associations with
attachment tears. For example, a field study on airport separa-
tions demonstrated that avoidantly attached women were less
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likely than anxiously attached women to seek and maintain
proximity to their partner and also were less likely to provide
or seek comfort and support in the context of separating from
a partner, which suggests a reduced expressivity of emotions
associated with separations (Fraley & Shaver, 1998). Anxiously
attached women, on the other hand, were more likely to express
distress when separating from a partner. In this study, associ-
ations among attachment style and crying proneness demon-
strated small effect sizes, whereas there was no association
noted for the avoidant variant of attachment. Results are thus
consistent with prior research demonstrating slightly different
patterns of emotionality among avoidant and anxiously attached
individuals.
Finally, results of hierarchical regressions lent some support
to our claim that crying proneness is best conceptualized as a
personality variable. Both attachment and empathy predicted an
additional and significant amount of variance in crying prone-
ness above and beyond that associated with age alone. Taken
together, findings suggest that crying proneness might be a rel-
atively stable individual difference factor.
Fundamental Theories About Crying
Considering the implications of the study findings for the
three primary theories about the functions of crying identified
in the introduction suggests some tentative conclusions. Un-
til now, the lack of availability of adequate measurement tools,
among other reasons, has prevented researchers from effectively
evaluating hypotheses, that, contrary to Darwins original view,
contend that crying might serve important intra- (e.g., catharsis)
and interpersonal (e.g., soliciting attention and support, inhi-
bition of aggression) functions. Our study was not designed
to evaluate the catharsis hypothesis (for a critical evaluation
of the catharsis theory, see Cornelius, 1997, 2001; Rottenberg,
Bylsma, & Vingerhoets, 2008). Instead, our findings provide
mixed support for the notion that the main function of crying
is in the interpersonal domain as a means of eliciting emotional
support and succor (Bowlby, 1969; Hasson, 2009; Hendriks &
Vingerhoets, 2006). Stronger associations between attachment
style and crying proneness would be expected to lend strong
support to this perspective. On the other hand, the relationship
DENCKLA, FIORI, VINGERHOETS
between crying proneness and age provides some support for
this theory, as crying proneness appears to increase with age
as social exchanges become more of a focus (Carstensen &
Mikels, 2005). The findings reported here seem to lend the most
support for the stress theoretical perspective, whereby crying is
conceptualized as an integrated function that combines both the
intra- and interpersonal functions addressed in the first two the-
ories (Keltner & Kring, 1998; Vingerhoets, 2013). For example,
given the medium effect size noted for the relationship between
affective empathy and crying proneness, results suggest that
crying might predominantly serve interpersonal functions (gen-
erating social bonds) rather than intrapersonal functions (releas-
ing excessive emotional energy). However, these interpersonal
reactions (social support, comforting, etc.) might, in their turn,
ultimately result in positive intrapersonal effects (Vingerhoets,
2013).
Limitations and Future Research
It is important to stress the limitations of this study when in-
terpreting findings. First, crying proneness was assessed entirely
by self-report and based on individuals perception of their own
reactions to books and films. We do not know if the individuals
who report that they will cry when watching or reading about
certain scenarios indeed will actually cry, nor do we know if
the crying threshold might be lowered if the individual experi-
ences the situation himself or herself rather than reading about
it or watching it. The advantage of asking about books and films
is that it is possible to assess crying proneness in response to
situations that not all individuals might have experienced. How-
ever, future research has to cross-validate this measure with
other measures of emotional expressivity and affective lability
as well as the real exposure to emotional movies or a daily diary
measure of crying (see Bylsma, Croon, Vingerhoets, & Rotten-
berg, 2011) to determine if self-reported crying due to books or
movies predicts actual crying due to real-life events.
Second, because our data were cross-sectional, it is not possi-
ble to determine whether the age differences we found were due
to actual age-related factors or were rather an artifact of some
other factor. It could be, for instance, that the greater levels of
crying among the older adults in our sample are a cohort effect.
Thus, it is important to design longitudinal studies to confirm the
developmental changes in crying behavior suggested by these
data and, even then, to examine how the possible changes in the
emotional climate of a time period affect emotional expressivity.
Although we did observe a medium effect size for the associa-
tion between crying proneness and affective empathy, all other
validation comparisons resulted in small effect sizes. Results
should further be interpreted with caution because the large
sample size could inflate the significance of correlations and
results might not have significant, practical value. To address
this gap, future studies should include more validation compar-
isons, in addition to employing behavioral measures of crying
proneness such as developing studies in which participants are
exposed to emotional movies that specifically tap the four differ-
ent factors represented by the CPS. Furthermore, future studies
should also investigate the role of social desirability in crying
proneness. For example, it could be that increases in crying
proneness across the life span reflect a greater acceptance of
crying, and future studies that focus on this possibility are rec-
ommended. Finally, study findings are limited due to the modest
 CRYING PRONENESS SCALE
reliabilities found among measures of empathy, attachment, and
even crying proneness. These limitations are important to note
due to their effect of reducing the validity of the findings. We
suggest that a number of factors might have limited the reli-
ability of our measures. First, the heterogeneity of this large
sample, in addition to cultural differences in the interpretation
of attachment and empathy items could have reduced reliabil-
ity. Furthermore, the use of the 12-item shortened version of
the attachment measure further reduced reliability because re-
dundancy introduced by using more items that can increase
reliability coefficients was eliminated.
In conclusion, this newly developed scale seems easy to ad-
minister, is relatively brief, covers many aspects of crying, and
can probably also be used in adolescent populations as well as
with individuals with different pathologies. This opens the way
for new fascinating research questions. One potential area for fu-
ture research is to explore how major events across the life span
might influence crying proneness, such as falling in love and be-
coming a parent, or life-threatening diseases (e.g., Rottenberg &
Vingerhoets, 2012). In addition to developmental studies, future
Downloaded by [Adelphi University] at 11:02 22 April 2014
research could focus on psychopathology and crying proneness.
For example, studies might explore how crying proneness for
very specific categories of stimuli changes among depressed in-
dividuals as well as other diagnostic categories. Studying the
antecedents of crying and crying proneness therefore have the
potential to become a window into a better understanding of
both normal and pathological socioemotional development and
thereby contribute to a better insight into human nature.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Portions of this article were presented at the 2012 annual
meeting of the Consortium of European Research on Emotion
(CERE) in Canterbury, Great Britain.
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APPENDIX
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CRYING PRONENESS SCALE
Instructions:
How likely is it that you are touched to the point of tears when
you see/read/hear the following events when you read a book,
see a documentary or a movie:
Very Unlikely Very Likely
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
[a] Someone dying
[b] The birth of a child
[c] A marriage that ends in a divorce
[d] A wedding ceremony
[e] People that say goodbye, leave each other, moment of
departure
13
[f] People that see each other again after a long time
[g] A conflict in a group
[h] A group thats working harmoniously
[i] When people are sabotaged in their efforts towards good
plans
[j] When people experience a lot of help for realizing their
plans
[k] If someone without good reason is excluded from a
group and not allowed to be part anymore
[1] When someone is taken in by a group
[m] When someone feels lonely or has homesickness
[n] When someone is part of a very close group or
camaraderie
[o] When someone experiences a rejection or loss (not win)
(also in a sporting event)
[p] When someone has a great success/ wins (also in a
sporting event)
[q] When someone feels powerless and helpless
[r] When someone achieves something great (triumph)
[s] When someone feels miserable
[t] When someone is very happy
[u] When you see someone who is very old, who is devalued,
not wanted around anymore because they look old/sick
[v] When you see a young person with a lot of potential and
talent
[w] When you see something touching, small and frail (e.g.,
a baby)
[x] If you see something almighty, huge, and beyond
understanding
[y] When you see how bad the world is, and that people do
terrible things to each other
[z] When you see how good the world is, and that people
help each other selflessly (altruistically, i.e., without
expecting something in return)
[aa] When someone is seriously hurt
[bb] When someone is experiencing an orgasm