Women cry when they're helpless, men cry for joy - study

When reacting to upsetting events, women cry up to four times as often as men. Photo / Thinkstock

Women are known for being the weepier sex. But it seems men are more likely to cry tears of joy.

When reacting to upsetting events, women cry up to four times as often as men, according to Professor Ad Vingerhoets, a leading authority on crying.

However men let the tears flow more often when they experience something positive, for example when their sports team wins an important match.

Professor Vingerhoets said the most common reason for crying is a feeling of powerlessness, rather than sadness.

He told the Daily Mail: "Overall, men and women cry over the same major things, like the death of a loved one, romantic break-ups, and homesickness.

"However, women also tend to cry over more mundane things like conflicts, criticism, a computer crash etc."

But he went on to say: "Remarkably, men tend to cry more often in reaction to positive events." He said this could be because culturally, men crying when they feel helpless is seen as a sign of weakness.

In a study, 5,000 people were asked how likely they were to cry in different situations. While women were considerably more likely to cry than men when they felt powerless, male tears were more likely to flow in moments of "victory, success or achievement," Professor Vingerhoets said.

Earlier this week Professor Vingerhoets was cited by London Mayor Boris Johnson in defence of Sir Tim Hunt, after the Nobel laureate sparked an outcry when he said the "trouble with girls" is "when you criticise them, they start crying".

Mr Johnson insisted it should not be an offence to point out a "gender difference" - and said Professor Vingerhoets' research supported the theory.

In his study of 37 countries, Professor Vingerhoets, of Tilburg University in the Netherlands, also found that in some hot countries in Africa, men and women cry just as much as each other. But in cold European countries, women tend to cry far more often than men. He added: "The colder the country, the more women cry."

- Daily Mail