Gender, gender roles, and anxiety: Perceived confirmability of self report, behavioral avoidance, and physiological reactivity

Abstract

Despite the well-documented gender effect in anxiety, less is known about contributing factors to women's greater risk for anxiety and fears. The present study examined the relationship between gender, gender role orientation (i.e., expressivity/instrumentality) and fear of harmless insects (tarantula), using a multimodal approach of self-report measures, a Behavioral Approach Test (BAT), and physiological reactivity. Participants (144 college students; 67 women, 77 men) completed a questionnaire packet and then were instructed to approach a tarantula. We were unable to replicate Pierce and Kirkpatrick's (1992) findings that men underreport anxiety. Consistent with the literature, women in the study experienced greater anxiety and avoidance compared to men. However, men and women did not differ on physiological reactivity during the first 2 min of the BAT. The concordance across avoidance, anxiety and heart rate reactivity differed by gender, suggesting that men and women have different experiences when faced with a fearful object. Furthermore, instrumentality (masculinity) was negatively related to anticipatory anxiety for women but not for men.

The evolutionary psychology of women's aggression

“…Although self-reports of fear and anxiety are correlated negatively with masculinity and positively with femininity [59], studies which control for gender role still find a significant effect of biological sex in self-reports [117]. In a behavioural task in which some participants were told that their self-report of fear was verifiable by heart rate monitors, the significant sex difference in fear ratings was unaffected [104]. While social and cultural expectations about gender are important, it appears that they cannot fully explain sex differences in self-reported emotional experience.…”

“…Sex differences in self-reported and behavioural measures of fear are not matched by differences in sympathetic nervous system reactivity. When fear is induced through incremental behavioural approach to spiders [104], inhalation of CO 2 -enriched air [105], affective images [106], scary movie clips [107] or emotional imagery [108], sex differences in heart rate and blood pressure are not found. In the HPA system, evidence indicates somewhat higher salivary cortisol measures in men after experimental stress induction [109].…”

The mental health impact of bed bug infestations: a scoping review

“…Insects can evoke a sense of distress, fear, anxiety, increased heart rate, and impairment in functioning for some individuals (Stoyanova and Hope 2012). For example, head lice do not transmit disease yet can be a cause of considerable mental and social distress (Chunge et al 1991).…”

Genetic Markers of a Munc13 Protein Family Member, BAIAP3, Are Gender Specifically Associated with Anxiety and Benzodiazepine Abuse in Mice and Humans

“…It cannot be excluded that, in a larger sample, an association of benzodiazepine use disorder with the genotypes investigated here might reach significance for women as well. Furthermore, research focusing on gender differences and social desirability in self-reported anxiety suggests an underreporting of fear and distress in men (41)(42)(43). Therefore, our use of three self-reported measures in the calculation of the anxiety composite score might partly explain the lack of association of the BAIAP3 risk genotypes with anxiety in men.…”