Gender differences in anxiety among Pakistani survivors of suicide bomb blast

Abstract

This research investigated gender differences in anxiety among Pakistani survivors of suicide bomb blast. The sample was composed of 150 adult residents of Islamabad. 75 participants were live-witnesses of the Marriott hotel suicide bomb blast and 75 participants did not witness it i€aBurns Anxiety Inventory (BAI, 1999) was individually administered to all the research participants after getting written permission from the author for its use in the current research project. The female survivors reported greater anxiety than male survivors of this bomb blast (t = -2.45, df = 148, *p < 0.05). All the participants who directly witnessed the traumatic event of suicide bomb blast reported greater anxiety than those who did not witness it (t = 7.90, df = 148, **p < 0.01). Furthermore, the female survivors of suicide bombing reported more physical symptoms of anxiety as compared to their male counterparts (t = -2.94, df = 148, **p < 0.01). However, no gender differences were found in anxious thoughts and feelings of the survivors; probably because in Pakistani society the women often manifest their emotional distress in somatic form rather than in thoughts and feelings. The findings of this research have implications for promoting our knowledge and understanding of gender related issues of the survivors of traumatic events; such as suicide bomb blasts so that gender-sensitive counseling and therapeutic interventions could be introduced for the management and treatment of such survivors of terrorist attacks. Key words: Survivors, suicide bomb blast, anxiety, live-witnesses, non-witnesses.