Citation

Mendelsohn M, Sewell KW. J. Trauma. Stress 2004; 17(2): 103-111.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, The Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02143, USA. m.mendelsohn@comcast.net

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1023/B:JOTS.0000022616.03662.2f

PMID

15141783

Abstract

This study investigated social beliefs about gender-appropriate reactions to trauma. Ninety-three men and 179 women completed vignette measures of attitudes toward victims, the Bem Sex Role Inventory, and the Trauma History Questionnaire. Participants evaluated male victims less favorably than female victims. Women responded more positively toward all victims than men. Participants regarded female crime victims more positively than their male counterparts, but did not distinguish between male and female natural disaster victims. Feminine-sex-typed women rated victims more favorably than masculine-sex-typed individuals. There was a positive relation between personal trauma exposure and attitudes toward male victims among male participants. These findings contribute to an understanding of factors influencing the social reactions experienced by traumatized men and women, and have implications for clinical practice and psychoeducation.

Language: en