Gratitude is female. Biological sex, socio-cultural gender versus gratitude and positive orientation

Abstract

BackgroundAccording to previous studies, women experience emotions more frequently and intensively than men, and also reveal greater sensitivity to emotions of other people. Relationships turn out to be more complicated in the case of socio-cultural gender. The objective of the study was to search for relations between biological sex, socio-cultural gender, gratitude and positive orientation.Participants and procedureThe study involved 238 participants (125 women and 113 men). The average age of the participants was 33.28 (SD = 8.95). The following research tools were employed: the Masculinity and Femininity Scale, the Gratitude Questionnaire and the Positivity Scale. To determine the significance of differences, Student’s t-test and analy-sis of variance (ANOVA) were used. In order to establish the relationships between variables, Pearson’s corre-lation coefficient and linear regression were applied. The significance of the mediation model was tested using Sobel’s test.ResultsBiological sex and socio-cultural gender differentiated the results of gratitude. Femininity was associated with higher scores on the scales of gratitude and positive orientation. Gratitude showed a correlation with positive orientation.ConclusionsWomen exhibit a higher level of gratitude than men. Androgynous people show a higher level of gratitude than people who are sex-typed, undifferentiated and cross-sex-typed. Sex-typed women show a higher level of gratitude compared to sex-typed men. Women who are cross-sex-typed display a lower level of gratitude than cross-sex-typed men. Gratitude is a mediator of the relationship between femininity and positive orientation.