Gender Differences in Generating Cognitive Reappraisals for Threatening Situations: Reappraisal Capacity Shields Against Depressive Symptoms in Men, but Not Women.

Corinna M Perchtold,Hannelore Weber,Andreas Fink,Ilona Papousek,Elisabeth M Weiss,Christian Rominger

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00553

Corinna M Perchtold, Hannelore Weber + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00553

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Abstract

Despite major research interest regarding gender differences in emotion regulation, it is still not clear whether men and women differ in their basic capacity to implement specific emotion regulation strategies, as opposed to indications of the habitual use of these strategies in self-reports. Similarly, little is known on how such basic capacities relate to indices of well-being in both sexes. This study took a novel approach by investigating gender differences in the capacity for generating cognitive reappraisals in adverse situations in a sample of 67 female and 59 male students, using a maximum performance test of the inventiveness in generating reappraisals. Participants’ self-perceived efficacy in emotion regulation was additionally assessed. Analyses showed that men and women did not differ in their basic capacity to generate alternative appraisals for anxiety-eliciting scenarios, suggesting similar functional cognitive mechanisms in the implementation of this strategy. Yet, higher cognitive reappraisal capacity predicted fewer depressive daily-life experiences in men only. These findings suggest that in the case of cognitive reappraisal, benefits for well-being in women might depend on a more complex combination of basic ability, habits, and efficacy-beliefs, along with the use of other emotion regulation strategies. The results of this study may have useful implications for psychotherapy research and practice.

Highlights

Among the most pervasive differences between men and women in the realm of emotion is women’s heightened vulnerability toward the development of affective disorders, in particular depression and anxiety (e.g., Nolen-Hoeksema, 2001; Kessler et al, 2007; Steel et al, 2014)
Men and women did not differ in their basic capacity to generate cognitive reappraisals for anxiety-eliciting events [men: M = 5.55, SD = 1.24; women: M = 5.52, SD = 1.37; t(124) = 0.118, p = 0.906]
This study examined gender differences in the fundamental capacity to spontaneously generate alternative cognitive reappraisals for anxiety-eliciting scenarios as well as their potential relevance to depressive experiences in everyday life

Summary

Introduction

Among the most pervasive differences between men and women in the realm of emotion is women’s heightened vulnerability toward the development of affective disorders, in particular depression and anxiety (e.g., Nolen-Hoeksema, 2001; Kessler et al, 2007; Steel et al, 2014). Women employ cognitive reappraisal on a more frequent basis than men do (e.g., Tamres et al, 2002; Spaapen et al, 2014; see Nolen-Hoeksema, 2012), though in the meta-analysis of Tamres et al (2002), this effect was reported for most emotion regulation strategies These findings are, challenged by others that report no gender differences in the habitual use of cognitive reappraisal (Gross and John, 2003; Haga et al, 2009; Zlomke and Hahn, 2010), or even endorse more positive re-interpretations in men (Öngen, 2010). Research on gender-specific effects of cognitive reappraisal use on depressive symptoms during adolescence yielded disparate results as well, either denoting cognitive reappraisal effective in attenuating depressive symptoms in both men and women (Shapero et al, 2018) or suggesting that greater habitual use of cognitive reappraisal more strongly decreases depressive symptoms in adolescent girls than boys (Duarte et al, 2015)

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