Girls' Stuff? Maternal Gender Stereotypes and Their Daughters' Fear.

Antje B M Gerdes,Melissa Braband,Georg W Alpers,Laura-Ashley Fraunfelter

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.741348

Abstract

One of the most robust findings in psychopathology is the fact that specific phobias are more prevalent in women than in men. Although there are several theoretical accounts for biological and social contributions to this gender difference, empirical data are surprisingly limited. Interestingly, there is evidence that individuals with stereotypical feminine characteristics are more fearful than those with stereotypical masculine characteristics; this is beyond biological sex. Because gender role stereotypes are reinforced by parental behavior, we aimed to examine the relationship of maternal gender stereotypes and children’s fear. Dyads of 38 mothers and their daughters (between ages 6 and 10) were included. We assessed maternal implicit and explicit gender stereotypes as well as their daughters’ self-reported general fearfulness, specific fear of snakes, and approach behavior toward a living snake. First, mothers’ fear of snakes significantly correlated with their daughters’ fear of snakes. Second, mothers’ gender stereotypes significantly correlated with their daughters’ self-reported fear. Specifically, maternal implicit gender stereotypes were associated with daughters’ fear of snakes and fear ratings in response to the snake. Moreover, in children, self-reported fear correlated with avoidance of the fear-relevant animal. Together, these results provide first evidence for a potential role of parental gender stereotypes in the development and maintenance of fear in their offspring.

Highlights

Sex Differences in Specific PhobiaThe most prominent and robust finding in anxiety disorders is that they are twice as common in women compared to men (30.5–33 vs. 19–22%, Kessler et al, 1994; McLean et al, 2011)
Fears beyond implicit gender stereotypes. As this is one of the few experimental studies examining the relationship between parental gender stereotypes and children’s fear, it may motivate replications with larger and more heterogeneous samples including fathers and sons and a wider range of possible fear domains
Increasing awareness of gender stereotypes may be a promising approach to prevent fears and phobias in girls and to establish targeted treatment modalities for women

Summary

Introduction

Sex Differences in Specific PhobiaThe most prominent and robust finding in anxiety disorders is that they are twice as common in women compared to men (30.5–33 vs. 19–22%, Kessler et al, 1994; McLean et al, 2011). The most prominent and robust finding in anxiety disorders is that they are twice as common in women compared to men (30.5–33 vs 19–22%, Kessler et al, 1994; McLean et al, 2011) This ratio was replicated for specific phobias (26.5 vs 12.9%, Frederikson et al, 1996), and differences in prevalence rates are especially pronounced for fear of animals, as approximately 12% of women but only 3% of men report clinically relevant animal phobia (Frederikson et al, 1996). Several studies found women to report fear of snakes twice as often compared to men and women consistently reach higher scores on questionnaires assessing symptoms of fear of snakes (Frederikson et al, 1996; Polak et al, 2016; Zsido, 2017)

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