Sex Differences in Choice of Coping Response as a Function of Posterior Brain Asymmetry
Date
2001
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Haverford College. Department of Psychology
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Thesis
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
Gender differences in rates of depression have been well established, but the reason for this difference has yet to be explained. Although explanations include hormonal differences and psychosocial explanations, the present study focused on gender differences in coping strategy and hemispheric asymmetry. A depressed mood was induced in 33 males and 34 female college students, and subjects were asked to complete a chimeric faces task to measure hemispheric activation and two separate tasks aimed to measure both implicit and explicit coping style. Results demonstrated a significant relationship between hemispheric asymmetry and subjects' level of distraction when coping with a depressed mood. This relationship was different for women and men and showed that women who scored low in distraction display an asymmetry bias similar to depressed individuals. We suggest that these results have implications for addressing the sex difference that exists in depressed mood and that future research should investigate sex differences in hemispheric asymmetry in relation to depressed mood and coping style.