Sex differences in written disclosure : implications for differential vulnerability to post traumatic stress disorder
Sex differences in written disclosure : implications for differential vulnerability to post traumatic stress disorder
Research studies suggest that important differences exist between the sexes in terms vulnerability to developing PTSD. Further, qualitative differences have been found in the symptom constellation of males and females with PTSD. However, few studies exist that focus specifically on explanations for the gender effect, and theoretical models as yet fail to consider the operation of gender in PTSD processes.
The current study explored explanations for gender differences in PTSD within the context of current theoretical insights. Drawing from the literature it was hypothesised that differential vulnerability to PTSD may be related to sex differences in the cognitive contextualisation of emotional experience. Sex differences in cognitive and emotion word usage were therefore examined in a non-clinical sample of university students writing about a neutral and personally traumatic experience. It was found that while males and females did not differ in terms of total emotion words used across the conditions, men used more positive emotion words than did females and females used more anxiety and fear related words than did males. Further, females were found to use significantly more cognitive words than did males. The results of the study support the notion that sex differences may exist in the management of emotion and suggests interesting directions for future research attention.
University of Southampton
Falvey, Hannah Maria
c8ceb6be-6f77-445a-b56d-e08098e3740b
2004
Falvey, Hannah Maria
c8ceb6be-6f77-445a-b56d-e08098e3740b
Falvey, Hannah Maria
(2004)
Sex differences in written disclosure : implications for differential vulnerability to post traumatic stress disorder.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
Research studies suggest that important differences exist between the sexes in terms vulnerability to developing PTSD. Further, qualitative differences have been found in the symptom constellation of males and females with PTSD. However, few studies exist that focus specifically on explanations for the gender effect, and theoretical models as yet fail to consider the operation of gender in PTSD processes.
The current study explored explanations for gender differences in PTSD within the context of current theoretical insights. Drawing from the literature it was hypothesised that differential vulnerability to PTSD may be related to sex differences in the cognitive contextualisation of emotional experience. Sex differences in cognitive and emotion word usage were therefore examined in a non-clinical sample of university students writing about a neutral and personally traumatic experience. It was found that while males and females did not differ in terms of total emotion words used across the conditions, men used more positive emotion words than did females and females used more anxiety and fear related words than did males. Further, females were found to use significantly more cognitive words than did males. The results of the study support the notion that sex differences may exist in the management of emotion and suggests interesting directions for future research attention.
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Published date: 2004
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Local EPrints ID: 467069
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/467069
PURE UUID: 665f3d08-ef0c-40a4-941f-d82c23f5af72
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Date deposited: 05 Jul 2022 08:11
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 20:58
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Author:
Hannah Maria Falvey
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