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Abstract

This dissertation explores the impact traditional gender roles and ideologies have on men's and women's ability to discuss, and seek help for, feelings of anxiousness, and questions whether they are to blame for the gender gap in diagnosed anxiety disorders. Existing literature into the topic of gender and anxiety offers explanations as to why statistics show women, and those under the age of 35, to be disproportionately affected by anxiety disorders. In contrast, it questions the reliability of these statistics by arguing that some social groups may be less inclined to seek professional help for feelings of anxiousness so, therefore, do not get a diagnosis. This research seeks to clarify these conflicting arguments by establishing in what ways the factors of gender and age influence men’s and women’s understandings of feelings of anxiousness and their ability to seek support for them.

Seven male and nine female participants of a range of ages were recruited via a combination of snowball and quota sampling to complete an online-questionnaire that produced both qualitative and quantitative data. The thematic analysis of participants' responses revealed that gender appeared to be less of an influencing factor in attitudes towards anxiety disorders than literature suggests. Men's and women's perceptions and interpretations of anxiety and their comfortability discussing and seeking help for feelings of anxiousness were fairly alike. Instead, participants' responses demonstrated that age was a more influential factor in their attitudes towards anxiety disorders. Older participants showed more scepticism towards the trend of medicalising feelings of anxiousness than younger participants, and younger participants were far more open to discussing their feelings of anxiousness than older participants. Whilst gender differences are highly researched in literature surrounding this topic, the factor of age is not, therefore this could potentially be a line of enquiry for future research.

Course: Sociology - BSc (Hons) - C0315

Date Deposited: 2020-02-10

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13525.html