Data from the paper: Girls’ Stuff? Maternal Gender Stereotypes and Their Daughters’ Fear published in Frontiers in Psychology

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.

病理心理学领域最稳健的研究发现之一是，特定恐惧症（specific phobias）在女性中的患病率高于男性。尽管已有多项理论阐释了该性别差异的生物学与社会学成因，但相关实证数据却出人意料地匮乏。值得注意的是，有证据表明，具备典型女性化特质的个体比具备典型男性化特质的个体更易感到恐惧，这一现象与生物性别无关。由于性别角色刻板印象会受到父母行为的强化，本研究旨在探讨母亲的性别刻板印象与儿童恐惧情绪之间的关联。本研究纳入了38对母亲与其6至10岁女儿的配对样本。研究人员评估了母亲的内隐（implicit）与外显（explicit）性别刻板印象，同时评估了女儿自我报告的总体恐惧水平、特定蛇类恐惧程度，以及对活体蛇的趋近行为。首先，母亲对蛇的恐惧程度与女儿的蛇类恐惧程度显著相关。其次，母亲的性别刻板印象与女儿的自我报告恐惧水平显著相关。具体而言，母亲的内隐（implicit）性别刻板印象与女儿的蛇类恐惧程度以及对蛇的恐惧评分均存在关联。此外，在儿童群体中，自我报告的恐惧水平与对恐惧相关动物的回避行为呈显著正相关。综上，本研究结果首次为父母的性别刻板印象在子代恐惧情绪的形成与维持中可能发挥的作用提供了实证依据。