Sexist Discrimination May Account for Well-Known Gender Differences in Psychiatric Symptoms

Abstract

It was hypothesized that women may have more depressive, anxious, and somatic symptoms than men because they experience a deleterious stressor that men do not: sexist treatment. A total of 255 students (180 females, 75 males) at a state university completed an anonymous questionnaire containing measures of these symptoms. Women were found to exhibit significantly greater symptoms than men on all of them. Further, women who experienced frequent sexism had significantly more symptoms than men on all symptom measures, whereas women who experienced little sexism did not differ from men on any symptom measure. These findings suggest that gender‐specific stressors not only play a role in psychiatric symptoms among women but may account for well‐known gender differences in those symptoms as well.

Gender Differences in Distress: The Mediating Influence of Life Stressors and Psychological Resources

“…Other researchers have suggested that it is possible that women assess threatening events as more stressful than men do (Ptacek, Smith, & Dodge, 1994). Klonoff, Landrine, and Campbell (2000) suggested that women experience gender-specific stressors such as gender violence and sexist discrimination, which are associated with women's physical and psychiatric events. Furthermore, Turner, Wheaton, and Lloyd (1995) indicated that women are more affected by the stress of the people around them, as they tend to be more emotionally involved than men in social and family networks.…”

Gender Discrimination (GD): A Conceptual Trauma-Based Framework for GD and the Development of Gender Discrimination Inventory

“…The results highlighted the serious mental health effects of GD as a continuous chronic potentially traumatic stress, which is rarely addressed in counseling that focus more on past potentially traumatic events. It was long suspected that GD may account for well-known gender differences in psychiatric symptoms (Klonoff, Landrine, & Campbell, 2000) and their negative mental health effects were found to be salient across cultures . Paradigms that address the mental health consequences of such chronic potentially traumatic events of discrimination that include GD from its roots are emerging (e.g., Kira, Ashby, Omidy, & Lewandowski, 2015;Kira, & Tummala-Narra, 2014), and still need to be further developed.…”

Marianismo Identity, Self-Silencing, Depression and Anxiety in Women from Santa María de Dota, Costa Rica

“…For instance, various studies have demonstrated a strong link between experiences of sexism and gender inequality and rates of psychological distress, including symptoms of depression and anxiety (eg., Klonoff et al, 2000;Moradi & Funderburk, 2006;Fischer & Holz, 2007). Specifically, the adherence to strict, traditional gender roles has been shown to play a role in symptomology among women (Sweeting, Bhaskar, Benzeval, Popham, & Hunt, 2013).…”

“…Understanding the underlying causes of these discrepancies is key in the reduction of mental illness in women, and in turn, the reduction of mental illness in the general population. There is strong support for a link between experiences with gender inequality and conformity to gender roles and higher rates of depression and anxiety in women (eg., Klonoff et al, 2000;Moradi & Funderburk, 2006;Fischer & Holz, 2007).…”