Running head: Anxiety: Affect on males and females1

Anxiety: Does it affect males and females differently? A study on

students
Anxiety: Affect on males and females2

Abstract

A number of studies done among people of various age groups have found that women are
relatively more affected by anxiety than men but very less is known about how gender influences
the onset of anxiety. In this study, we aim to find just that. The following experiment is done on
students of ABC students of XYZ with age ranging from 17 to 21. The study mainly focused on
studying the anxiety prevalence in different batches of ABC course. In the majority of the
sections of part one, women scored higher on anxiety than men did. The first part of the
questionnaire consisted of the Hamilton Anxiety Scale while second part had situations related to
ABC course with five options for students to choose from, they had the options to choose from
'not present' to 'very severe'. In the majority of the sections of part one, women scored higher on
anxiety than men did. There is a recurrence of similar results from part two of the questionnaire.

Keywords: Affected by Anxiety, Gender differences, ABC students

Anxiety: Does it affect males and females differently? A study on IPM students

Introduction

Mental Health is one of the most important constituents of leading a healthy life. In many

instances, people subside mental illness as a passing stage of life and try to push it under the

carpet. Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness affecting 1 out 5 adults in the U.S.

(Kessler et al., 2005). Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease about something with

an uncertain outcome. It is a nervous disorder marked by excessive uneasiness and apprehension,

typically with compulsive behavior or panic attacks. One of the most noted findings in the

psychiatric epidemiology is that women are significantly more likely than men to develop an

anxiety disorder throughout their lifespan (Angst & Dobler-Mikola, 1985; Bruce et al.,

2005; Regier et al., 1990). This sex bias may be attributed in part to a greater sensitivity to
Anxiety: Affect on males and females3

stressful and traumatic life experiences in women. Indeed, numerous studies have examined sex

differences in the response to stress and have identified differences in the neural circuits that

impact emotional reactivity. (Goldstein et al., 2010; Kogler et al., 2014) However, how these

mechanisms may be mediating sex differences in anxiety disorders remains unclear.

Prior studies indicate that women have a greater likelihood of expressing their emotions verbally

(Brody and Hall, 1993), which may contribute to their increased vulnerability to emotional

distress and related disorders (Bangasser and Valentino, 2014; Kessler et al, 1981). As such,

women have a greater lifetime prevalence of stress-related psychiatric disorders such as

depression and anxiety disorders (Bangasser et al, 2014), while men have a greater prevalence of

externalizing disorders (e.g., aggression, substance abuse) (Hicks et al, 2004).

From these various studies, we formulated the hypothesis that women were more susceptible to

anxiety than men. To strengthen our hypothesis and test it in a particular demographic of

students, we conducted a survey by using Google Forms. The Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale

(HAM-A) was used to quantify the subjective experience of anxiety. From the available options

ranging from 'not present' to 'very severe' the participants had to choose from five different

options. The following scale is efficient in exploring the grey region of anxiety instead of the

black or the white. The survey consisted of two parts. The first one consisted of questions for

participants to answer based on conditions of anxieties and how intensifying and recurring each

condition has been in the lives of participants ranging from a scale of 1 to 5. The part one of the

questionnaire had participants answer questions on conditions of anxiety, like anxious mood,

irritability, tensions such as nightmares and fatigability, fears of the dark or strangers or
Anxiety: Affect on males and females4

loneliness and etc., insomnia, intellectual difficulties like problem concentrating in class and

poor memory, depressing mood and lack of interest and diurnal swing and many more.

The part two of the questionnaire focused more on applying the findings from previous

experiments to ABC students and see whether they followed same trends or not. As the students

in ABC are supposed to multitasking by having their fingers in all pies it gets quite stressful in

most of their lifestyle and having to deal with the uncertainty of their individual success from

this course. They were given a series of questions to answer based on their work ethic and their

personal life.

Method

PARTICIPANTS/SAMPLES:

Data was collected from men and women from the XYZ community, specifically the

ABC students via a Google form. We received 52 responses, out of which 26 were female

responses and the rest 26 were male responses. All the participants were from the three ABC

batches; ABC2017-22, ABC2016-21, and ABC2015-20, and between the age range of 17 and

22.

DESIGN AND PROCEDURE:

We floated a google form as an online survey titled ‘Anxiety Rating Test’. The mention

of the following lines in the beginning of the form ensured that the identity of the participants

won’t be disclosed and the information collected will be kept confidential.

Anxiety: Affect on males and females5

“This test is being done for a research study on the effects of anxiety. Your responses will

be confidential. Your participation in this study is voluntary. We are interested in your everyday

life experiences and worries. Please read the questions carefully and answer by choosing one of

the 5 options.”

Following this, we asked the participants to fill in their course comprising of the three

ABC batches, gender comprising of only male and female, and their age. The survey was divided

into two parts. Part - 1 mentioned the line ‘Please select the answers which best describe to what

extent you have these conditions.’ Participants had to answer on the basis of a 5-point scale

starting from 1 - ‘Not present’ to 5 - ‘very severe’. Part - 2 started with the statement ‘Now we

want to know about your ABC experience at XYZ.’ There again the participants had to answer on

the basis of the same 5-point scale.

INSTRUMENT:

Our team floated a google form to three batches of ABC. We tried to make a

questionnaire which could help us study different scales of anxiety among different genders. The

questionnaire was divided into two parts. Part 1 which had 14 questions of the Hamilton Anxiety

Rating Scale regarding their moods, fears, insomnia, and behaviour, and Part 2 which had 10

general questions formed by us regarding their experience at XYZ. This questionnaire was

reviewed by Prof. S to arrive at correct conclusions. As the experience can’t be measured

cardinally, we used ordinal measure of rating their experiences on scale of 5(1- Not Present, 2-

Mild, 3- Moderate, 4- Severe, 5- Very Severe).

Anxiety: Affect on males and females6

Result

The following are the tables containing the mean and standard deviation of the various responses

collected. We have used the comparison of means method to identify which factor is affecting

women more than men.

MALE FEMALE
PART I
MEAN STD. DEV MEAN STD.DEV

ANXIOUS MOOD 2.807692308 1.020557917 3.230769231 0.9922778767

TENSION 2.384615385 1.13408723 2.769230769 1.296014537

FEARS 2.153846154 1.255143265 2.692307692 1.129111055

INSOMNIA 2 1.232882801 2.076923077 1.245772071

INTELLECTUAL 2.692307692 1.123182292 2.615384615 1.010764573

DEPRESSED MOOD 2.653846154 1.383974211 2.884615385 1.332250643

SOMATIC -
1.615384615 0.9413574487 1.692307692 1.05375026
MUSCULAR

SOMATIC -
1.576923077 0.7575263387 1.807692308 1.052722712
SENSORY

CARDIOVASCULAR
1.384615385 0.8038369525 1.730769231 1.041352767
SYMPTOMS

RESPIRATORY
1.5 0.8124038405 1.538461538 0.8004327834
SYMPTOMS

GASTROINTESTINAL
1.423076923 0.7027418828 1.576923077 1.05682691
SYMPTOMS

GENITOURINARY
1.307692308 0.6176879969 1.423076923 1.048602451
SYMPTOMS

AUTONOMIC
1.807692308 0.6939297238 1.961538462 1.097024705
SYMPTOMS

BEHAVIOR AT
2.423076923 1.101746865 2.230769231 1.0900971
INTERVIEW
Anxiety: Affect on males and females7

MALE FEMALE
PART II
MEAN STD. DEV MEAN STD.DEV
Stress before an
2.769230769 0.9511127087 2.807692308 1.03195691
exam

Need to maintain a
3.076923077 0.9766504768 2.730769231 1.31590339
public image

Felt gender bias 2.307692308 1.257592327 2.038461538 1.269011273

Degree of academic
3.615384615 1.202561369 3.769230769 1.192509087
competition

Inability to balance
studies and 3.346153846 1.324909286 2.923076923 1.1916012
co-curriculars

Uncertainty about the

academic course you 2.615384615 1.525173382 2.807692308 1.269011273
are enrolled in

Class participation
3 1.326649916 3.153846154 1.279204298
and stage fright

Procrastination
regarding project 3.730769231 1.002305036 3.076923077 1.279204298
deadlines

Discomfort in sharing
accommodation
2.115384615 1.336470668 1.923076923 1.414213562
(Excessive paranoia
or adjustment issues)

Persistent urges to
escape the campus
2.153846154 1.255143265 2.230769231 1.540927926
boundaries (5 years
factor.)
Anxiety: Affect on males and females8

Discussions

Limitations and Further Research

As the participants are limited to ABC students, the collected data is restricted to a

specific course of a specific college in a particular age group. A more diverse and bigger

population would give a broad result of the proposed hypothesis.

To understand how to deal men and women suffering from anxiety specifically with

better diagnosis, psychologists can take this up as a research field. Some unexpected results like

men facing more gender bias and feeling more anxious at times for interviews can also be

subjected to further research. The questionnaire and methodology used for this research would

help future research in this field. It would be helpful in learning and reaching a definite

conclusion for a broader population.

Anxiety: Affect on males and females9

References

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http://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.617
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