ERIC Number: ED162200
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1978-Apr-22
Pages: 22
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Sex Differences in Children's Reports of Emotion-Arousing Situations.
Feshbach, Norma Deitch; Hoffman, Michael Arthur
Elementary school boys and girls are highly similar with regards to the events they describe as emotionally arousing fear, sadness, anger, happiness, and pride. One hundred and sixty (160) White, Black, Chicano, and Asian-American boys and girls from kindergarten, second, third, fourth, and sixth grades freely described the situation that most strongly aroused each of these five emotions. Verbatim responses about situations were categorized in a specially devised coding system along four major dimensions: initiating agent, the social context, the personal resources gained or lost, and the specific need threatened or satisfied in the emotion arousing event. Although significant developmental and inter-emotional differences were found, only limited sex differences were obtained. In general, girls more than boys experienced critical emotional experiences in family and social contexts, while boys were more self-oriented, manifesting greater preoccupations with possessions, competence, and autonomy. These limited sex differences, found within a wider context of similarity, were interpreted in the context of Bakan's communal/agency distinction. Each emotion studied reflected different configurations among the four dimensions analyzed, suggesting unique developmental patterns of emergence for the separate emotions. (Author)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Psychological Association (58th, San Francisco, California, April 19-22, 1978)