Abstract
Sex-role egalitarianism (SRE) is the belief that the sex of an individual should not influence the perception of his or her rights, abilities, obligations, and opportunities. Thus, low SRE reflects a more conservative stereotypical view on sex-role. Here we investigated anatomical correlates of individual differences in SRE in the present study. We used voxel-based morphometry, a questionnaire to determine an individual’s SRE and associated psychological measures, and determined the association of SRE with gray matter structures and their cognitive nature in healthy individuals (375 men and 306 women; age, 20.6 ± 1.8 years). We demonstrated that higher SRE was associated with smaller regional gray matter density (rGMD) in the anterior part of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and higher rGMD in the right amygdala. Post-hoc analyses revealed psychological measures characterized by contentious interpersonal orientations, such as contentious achievement motivation, were associated with lower SRE and higher rGMD in the anterior part of PCC. Depressive tendencies were associated with lower SRE and higher rGMD in the right amygdala. These findings suggest that variations in stereotype on sex role have roots in the limbic brain structures linked to contentious interpersonal orientation (cingulate) and negative mood (amygdala).
Highlights
Sex-role egalitarianism (SRE) is the belief that the sex of an individual should not influence the perception of his or her rights, abilities, obligations, and opportunities
A multiple regression analysis with the Scale of Egalitarian Sex Role Attitudes (SESRA-S) score selected as the dependent variable, and age, sex, and Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrix (RAPM) score selected as independent variables, revealed that women showed significantly higher SESRA-S scores than men
We demonstrated that higher SRE, less stereotypical view on stereotype on sex role was associated with smaller regional gray matter density (rGMD) in the anterior part of posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)
Summary
Sex-role egalitarianism (SRE) is the belief that the sex of an individual should not influence the perception of his or her rights, abilities, obligations, and opportunities. Depressive tendencies were associated with lower SRE and higher rGMD in the right amygdala These findings suggest that variations in stereotype on sex role have roots in the limbic brain structures linked to contentious interpersonal orientation (cingulate) and negative mood (amygdala). Lower SRE appears to show a moderate-to-weak robust association with more negative emotional or personal characteristics Such characteristics include a lower need for autonomy[13], a higher need for social recognition[13], and a wide range of mental health problems, such as alcoholism, depression, anxiety, and stress[8,14]. Weatherill et al.[14] investigated roles of women’s SRE in the adaptation of women to the military They revealed that among women, higher SRE was weakly but robustly associated with lower depression, lower anxiety, and fewer post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms
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