Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA.
J Anxiety Disord. 2012 Jan;26(1):206-14. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2011.11.006. Epub 2011 Nov 18.
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.
尽管焦虑症中的性别效应有充分的记录，但对于导致女性面临更大焦虑和恐惧风险的因素知之甚少。本研究使用自我报告测量、行为趋近测试（BAT）和生理反应的多模态方法，考察了性别、性别角色取向（即表达性/工具性）与对无害昆虫（狼蛛）的恐惧之间的关系。参与者（144 名大学生；67 名女性，77 名男性）完成了一份问卷包，然后被指示接近一只狼蛛。我们无法复制 Pierce 和 Kirkpatrick（1992）的发现，即男性对焦虑的报告不足。与文献一致的是，与男性相比，研究中的女性经历了更大的焦虑和回避。然而，在 BAT 的前 2 分钟内，男性和女性的生理反应没有差异。回避、焦虑和心率反应的一致性因性别而异，这表明男性和女性在面对恐惧物体时的体验不同。此外，工具性（男子气概）与女性的预期焦虑呈负相关，但与男性无关。
