Exploring gender differences in body image,eating pathology,and sexual harassment

This study examines the relationship between body image (weight/shape concerns), eating pathology, and sexual harassment among men and women (N = 2446). Hierarchical regressions controlling for depression revealed main effects of gender such that women reported greater weight/shape concerns, eating pathology, dietary restraint, eating concerns, and binge eating compared to men. Main effects for sexual harassment indicated that as harassment increased, participants reported increased weight/shape concerns, eating pathology, dietary restraint, eating concerns, binge eating, and compensatory behaviors. There were small but significant interactions between gender and harassment for eating pathology total score (which included each of the domains listed above), weight/shape concerns, dietary restraint, and eating concerns such that the relationship between increased harassment and increased pathology was stronger for women compared to men. The largest interaction was found for compensatory behaviors, such that while women and men's scores both increased as harassment increased, the relationship was stronger for men.     

Employment trajectories: Exploring gender differences and impacts of drug use

This study investigated the impact of drug use on employment over 20 years among men and women, utilizing data on 7661 participants in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Growth mixture modeling was applied, and five distinct employment trajectory groups were identified for both men and women. The identified patterns were largely similar for men and women except that a U-shape employment trajectory was uniquely identified for women. Early-initiation drug users, users of “hard” drugs, and frequent drug users were more likely to demonstrate consistently low levels of employment, and the negative relationship between drug use and employment was more apparent among men than women. Also, positive associations between employment and marriage became more salient for men over time, as did negative associations between employment and childrearing among women. Processes are dynamic and complex, suggesting that throughout the life course, protective factors that reduce the risk of employment problems emerge and change, as do critical periods for maximizing the impact of drug prevention and intervention efforts.     

Perceptions of sexual harassment: a re-examination of gender differences

There is mixed evidence for gender differences in perceptions of sexual harassment. To help clarify the existence of gender differences, we examined the sexual-harassment perceptions of 409 state government employees in the western United States. Few gender differences were found. We also compared the workers' perceptions to findings from a previous study of students (Terpstra & Baker, 1987). The relative ordering of the incidents' perceived severity was very similar, but workers perceived a number of incidents to be more harassing than did students. Thus, the major differences found were between students and workers, not between genders. Potential theoretical and methodological causes of these findings are discussed.     

Sexism and sexual risk behavior in adolescents: Gender differences

Background/Objective: This study examines whether there are differences in the maintenance of ambivalent sexist beliefs on the basis of gender and sexual experience in adolescents. The study also investigates whether the sexist beliefs themselves are linked to sexual risk behaviors. Method: A representative sample of 2,703 Spanish adolescents was carried out in public and private secondary schools, with an age range of 14 to 20 years old (M = 15.89; SD = 1.29). Results: Males maintain more hostile, benevolent and ambivalent sexist beliefs compared to females. Sexual experience (both coital and non-coital) is linked to a greater degree of hostile and benevolent sexist beliefs, but only within the male group. In males, greater benevolent sexism is linked to vaginal sex initiation at an earlier age, while greater hostile sexism is linked to a lower proportion of condom use. In females, greater hostile sexism is linked to a greater number of sex partners. Conclusions: It is necessary to include specific actions on sexist beliefs in programs for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections and HIV.     

Gender and sexual orientation differences in sexual response to sexual activities versus gender of actors in sexual films

In this study, the authors investigated the hypothesis that women's sexual orientation and sexual responses in the laboratory correlate less highly than do men's because women respond primarily to the sexual activities performed by actors, whereas men respond primarily to the gender of the actors. The participants were 20 homosexual women, 27 heterosexual women, 17 homosexual men, and 27 heterosexual men. The videotaped stimuli included men and women engaging in same-sex intercourse, solitary masturbation, or nude exercise (no sexual activity); human male-female copulation; and animal (bonobo chimpanzee or Pan paniscus) copulation. Genital and subjective sexual arousal were continuously recorded. The genital responses of both sexes were weakest to nude exercise and strongest to intercourse. As predicted, however, actor gender was more important for men than for women, and the level of sexual activity was more important for women than for men. Consistent with this result, women responded genitally to bonobo copulation, whereas men did not. An unexpected result was that homosexual women responded more to nude female targets exercising and masturbating than to nude male targets, whereas heterosexual women responded about the same to both sexes at each activity level.     

Race differences in sexual behavior: Testing an evolutionary hypothesis

Population differences exist in personality and sexual behavior such that, in terms of restraint, Orientals > whites > blacks. This ordering is predicted from an evolutionary theory of r/K reproductive strategies in which a tradeoff occurs between gamete production and parental care. Literature is reviewed on differences between the three groups in rate of ovulation, intercourse frequencies, sexual attitudes, developmental precocity, size of genitalia, secondary sexual characteristics, and biologic control of behavior that accord with this formulation. Novel analyses of data from the Institute for Sex Research are also carried out, indicating that American blacks, compared to American whites, are more precocious and less restrained. Their parents were younger when they were born, had more children, and had an earlier mortality. Blacks left home earlier, experienced a variety of premarital, marital, and extramarital sexual events earlier, had a greater number of premarital and extramarital partners, had a greater frequency of marital intercourse, used fewer contraceptives, and had a greater incidence of pregnancy, at a faster rate. The men had larger penises, at a different angle of erection, and maintained intromission longer, while the women had shorter menstrual cycles, more periodicity of sexual response, and a greater number of orgasms per act of coitus. Whites varied their sexual activity more, both with spouses and with prostitutes, although blacks consorted with prostitutes more frequently. Finally, blacks had a shorter duration of marriage and more permissive sexual attitudes.     

Non-suicidal self-injury and identity distress in Flemish adolescents: Exploring gender differences and mediational pathways

There is an increasing amount of research that examines non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in relation to identity formation in adolescents. However, little or no research to date has explored associations between NSSI and identity distress in specific domains. To address this shortcoming, we assessed NSSI, identity distress, anxiety, and depression using self-report questionnaires in 568 high school students. Gender differences in NSSI were found with lifetime prevalence of NSSI being twice as high in females as compared to males. Gender differences in terms of identity domains were also significant; adolescent females showed higher levels of distress in the identity domains of career goals, friendship, and group loyalties as compared to males. Adolescents engaging in NSSI showed higher distress in domains of long-term goals, friendship, sexual orientation and behavior, values and beliefs. Results indicated that it was not distress in specific domains as such but the impairment due to daily impact of identity distress that explained additional variance in lifetime prevalence of NSSI above and beyond gender, age, depression, and anxiety. We also demonstrated that gender differences in lifetime prevalence of NSSI were mediated by differences in such identity impairment. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Pain sensitivity and individual differences in self-reported sexual behavior

The relationship between sexual behavior and pain sensitivity was assessed in 27 heterosexual men and 20 heterosexual women. Sexual behavior measures included sexual motivation and ratings of subjective sexual arousal to and enjoyment of an auditory stimulus. Pain sensitivity measures were pain threshold and pain tolerance in a cold pressor task. Participants were tested after exposure to a neutral or a sexual audio stimulus. Exposure to the sexual stimulus increased pain sensitivity in women but not in men. However, sexual behavior measures were correlated with pain threshold for both men and women. Specifically, higher pain thresholds were associated with weaker sexual motivation, lower enjoyment potential for sexual interaction, and increased inhibition during intercourse. These results are consistent with findings in laboratory animals, suggesting that differences in sexual behavior may reflect differences in responsiveness to a variety of stimuli.     

A meta-analytic review of gender differences in perceptions of sexual harassment

Research on gender differences in perceptions of sexual harassment informs an ongoing legal debate regarding the use of a reasonable person standard instead of a reasonable woman standard to evaluate sexual harassment claims. The authors report a meta-analysis of 62 studies of gender differences in harassment perceptions. An earlier quantitative review combined all types of social-sexual behaviors for a single meta-analysis; the purpose of this study was to investigate whether the magnitude of the female-male difference varies by type of behavior. An overall standardized mean difference of 0.30 was found, suggesting that women perceive a broader range of social-sexual behaviors as harassing. However, the meta-analysis also found that the female-male difference was larger for behaviors that involve hostile work environment harassment, derogatory attitudes toward women, dating pressure, or physical sexual contact than sexual propositions or sexual coercion.     

Perceptual mechanisms that characterize gender differences in decoding women's sexual intent

Men and women often disagree about the meaning of women's nonverbal cues, particularly those conveying dating-relevant information. Men perceive more sexual intent in women's behavior than women perceive or report intending to convey. Although this finding has been attributed to gender differences in the threshold for labeling ambiguous cues as sexual in nature, little research has been conducted to determine etiology. Using a model that differentiates perceptual sensitivity from decisional bias, we found no evidence that men have lenient thresholds for perceiving women's nonverbal behavior as indicating sexual interest. Rather, gender differences were captured by a relative perceptual insensitivity among men. Just as in previous studies, men were more likely than women to misperceive friendliness as sexual interest, but they also were quite likely to misperceive sexual interest as friendliness. The results point to the promise of computational models of perception in increasing the understanding of clinically relevant social processes.     

Influence of the sex and gender in the sexual behavior of adolescents

The aim of this study is to evaluate the relation between gender and sex with the sexual behavior of adolescents. The sample comprised 815 teenagers (M=15.65, Sd.=1.42). The assessment instruments were the BEM Sex Role Inventory, the Sexual Opinion Survey, the Questionnaire of Risk Perception of Bayés and a questionnaire designed for the study. The results revealed that the majority of adolescents do not match the traditional gender stereotypes, defining themselves as adrogynes (34.4%). The teenagers who are defined as adrogynes or masculine carry out more sexual behaviors, and who display more erotophilia. The need to include the variable "gender" as a category of analysis in research on sexual behavior is indicated.     

From sex differences to gender role beliefs: Exploring effects on six dimensions of religiosity

Regardless of the particular dimension of religiosity under consideration, women are generally found to be more religious than men. To date, empirical data has not been used to explore the importance of gender role ideology in explaining these differences. Using the 1988 Akron Area Survey, the effects of sex differences and gender role beliefs on six dimensions of religiosity are explored. The major findings include the following: (1) sex differences in religiosity are not supported for most dimensions of religiosity when other demographic variables are considered; (2) gender role ideology, while not sex related, does improve the explanation of variance in most dimensions of religiosity; and (3) sex is a predictor of the closeness of an individual's relationships to God, while gender role ideology is not. We suggest that stereotypes about women being more religious are misleading and that gender role ideology has an important effect on religiosity. However, sex is more indicative of the level of religious intimacy, measured by perceived closeness to God. We discuss the implications of this finding for changes in family structure and relationships between men and women.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Association for the Sociology of Religion annual meeting, Washington, DC, August 1990.     

Distress in response to emotional and sexual infidelity: evidence of evolved gender differences in Spanish students

The authors studied gender differences in response to hypothetical infidelity in Spanish students. Using a forced-choice methodology, the authors asked a sample of 266 participants to indicate which kind of infidelity would be more distressing: emotional or sexual. Men were significantly more distressed by sexual infidelity than were women, and women were significantly more distressed by emotional infidelity than were men. Results supported the hypothesis that particular infidelity types, which resemble adaptive problems that human beings faced in the past, contribute to the psychology of jealousy. The results are consistent with previous cross-cultural research.     

Typical dreams: stability and gender differences

Although the variability of dream content is large, typical dream themes that occur quite often and are reported by many people can be identified (e.g., being chased, falling, flying, failing an examination, being unable to find a toilet or restroom). The present study is an investigation of the stability of the rank order of the dream themes and of gender differences in the content of dreams. The authors administered A. L. Zadra and T. A. Nielsen's (1997) Typical Dream Questionnaire to 444 participants. The findings indicated that most of the 55 dream themes occurred at least once in most of the participants' lifetimes. In addition, the correlation coefficients for the rank order of the themes were very high; that is, the relative frequencies were stable. The gender differences in the present study were in line with content analytic findings; for example, men reported dreams about physical aggression more often than did women. Overall, previous research and the present data indicate that available research results of the measurement of typical dream themes are reliable and valid. The question of the meaning of these themes or the relationship between typical dream contents and waking life experiences, however, has not yet been answered and is open to future research.     

The effects of nonverbal cues on gender differences in perceptions of sexual intent

The effects of several nonverbal cues on perceptions of male and female stimulus persons' sexuality were examined. Based on the findings of Abbey (“Sex Differences in Attributions for Friendly Behavior: Do Males Misperceive Females' Friendliness?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1982, 42, 830–838) and other investigators, we hypothesized that in general males would attribute more sexuality to both male and female targets than would females. Furthermore, we hypothesized that males' and females' perceptions of sexual intent would be most divergent in situations in which the nonverbal cues were most ambiguous (e.g., causal touch, moderate interpersonal distance). To test this hypothesis, the effects of three nonverbalcues were examined: interpersonal distance, eye contact, and touch. Males rated female targets as more seductive, sexy, and promiscuous, and expressed more sexual attraction to the opposite-sexed target, than females did for both ambiguous and nonambiguous nonverbal cues. Males' ratings of the male targets' sexuality were higher than females' ratings in two of the three studies. Also, across the three studies both female and male subjects rated the female target higher than the male target on the sexual traits. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.     

Gender stereotypes of parents with two-year-olds and beliefs about gender differences in behavior

A sample of British parents of two-year-olds was asked about gender-related adult roles, beliefs about gender differences in children's behavior, and whether they perceived their own child in terms of gender-specific behaviors. The majority of the children were perceived as conforming to gender stereotypes, and in particular, boys were seen this way by fathers. Parents cited as evidence behavior that corresponds closely to the content of adult sex role inventories. The parents were not positive about changes in the traditional gender-related work/child care division of labor.     

Exploring differences in youth and parent reports of antisociality among adolescent sexual and nonsexual offenders

This study examined the extent of, and explored several possible explanations for, the discrepancies found between adolescent and parent reports of conduct problems in adolescent sexual and nonsexual offenders. We found that adolescent sexual offenders scored lower on measures of conduct problems than did nonsexual offenders, whether on the basis of adolescent or parent report, though the difference was much larger for parent reports. Examining this discrepancy more closely, we found that parents of sexual offenders reported less antisocial behavior than did their sons, whereas parents of nonsexual offenders reported more antisocial behavior than did their sons. The same pattern of results was obtained for reports on impulsivity, but much less so with respect to antisocial personality traits such as narcissism and callousness. Measures of family functioning were generally not related to these parent-adolescent discrepancies in reports of conduct problems, but these discrepancies were positively correlated with parental reports of stress. The implications of these findings for the interpretation of research on adolescent sexual offenders and comparisons of sexual and nonsexual offenders are discussed.     

The 90's: gender differences in AIDS-related sexual concerns and behaviors,condom use and subjective condom experiences

To evaluate gender differences in the subjective experience and use of condoms, 193 heterosexual patrons at 13 bars in New York City were interviewed on site in 1991. Most respondents were single, middle class, and White; their ages ranged from 18 to 51 years. The data analysis was restricted to the 155 men and women who had at least 1 new partner in the 3 years preceding the survey. Respondents worried most about acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) when engaging in sex with a new partner. 86% indicated concern about AIDS had affected their sexual behavior, most often by increasing their condom use and decreasing casual sex. 91% of women and 79% of men said that condoms give them greater peace of mind. Women worried more than men about AIDS when they had a new sexual partner and were more likely to limit their number of partners, work harder on an existing sexual relationship, give up casual sex, or give up sex with new partners. Men's subjective condom experiences were related to their penile functioning (erection and ejaculation) and the threat of loss of sexual pleasure. Multiple regression equations revealed that, among men, condom use with new partners was associated with worrying about AIDS and younger age; among women, peace of mind was a positive predictor. With casual partners, more partners led to increased condom use among women and worrying about AIDS was a predictor for men; peace of mind was predictive for both genders. 53% of men compared to 21% of women expected to meet a new sexual partner at the bar where they were interviewed, and 36% of men and 19% of women were carrying condoms with them.