Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 41809, USA.
J Sex Med. 2010 Feb;7(2 Pt 1):794-802. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2009.01598.x. Epub 2009 Nov 19.
Research shows that in most situations, women perceive themselves to be at greater risk of harm than do men. Gustafson's gender role perspective on risk perception suggests that this is because women are socialized to feel that they need protection, especially from men.
Based on Gustafson's gender role perspective on sex differences in risk perception, we predicted that in at least one context, perception of romantic partners' sexual risk, this gender difference would be reversed. Specifically, women should rate boyfriends as having lower risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) than boyfriends rate themselves having.
In two studies, we examined heterosexual couples and compared women's perceptions of their boyfriends' sexual risk level with the boyfriend's self-perception of sexual risk.
Self-reported measures of risk for STIs, perception of romantic partners' risk for STIs.
On multiple measures, women rated their boyfriends as having a lower risk for STIs than the men rated themselves. Men did not show this pattern and, in some cases, showed the reverse pattern of perceiving their girlfriends to have a greater level of risk than girlfriends themselves believed they had.
Consistent with Gustafson's gender role perspective on risk perception, heterosexual women perceived their romantic partners as relatively less risky in terms of STI risk than men perceived themselves. One potential implication of this finding is that women may be less likely to protect themselves against disease in close romantic relationships because they believe that their partners are low risk, regardless of the partners' actual risk levels.
研究表明，在大多数情况下，女性认为自己面临的伤害风险大于男性。古斯塔夫森（Gustafson）的风险感知性别角色观点表明，这是因为女性被社会化认为需要保护，尤其是来自男性的保护。
基于古斯塔夫森（Gustafson）的性别角色观点对风险感知的性别差异，我们预测，在至少一种情况下，即对浪漫伴侣的性风险感知，这种性别差异会发生反转。具体来说，女性应该认为男朋友感染性传播感染（STI）的风险较低，而男朋友则认为自己的风险较高。
在两项研究中，我们研究了异性恋伴侣，并比较了女性对男朋友性风险水平的感知与男朋友对自己性风险的自我感知。
自我报告的 STI 风险、对浪漫伴侣 STI 风险的感知。
在多个测量指标上，女性对男朋友的 STI 风险评估低于男性对自己的评估。男性则没有表现出这种模式，而且在某些情况下，他们对女朋友的风险感知比女朋友自己认为的风险更高。
与古斯塔夫森（Gustafson）的风险感知性别角色观点一致，异性恋女性认为自己的浪漫伴侣在 STI 风险方面相对较低，而男性则认为自己的风险更高。这一发现的一个潜在含义是，女性在亲密的恋爱关系中可能不太可能保护自己免受疾病的侵害，因为她们认为自己的伴侣风险较低，而不管伴侣的实际风险水平如何。
