Sex differences are not attenuated by a sex-invariant measure of fear: The situated fear questionnaire

Anne C. Campbell; Claire Coombes; Raluca David; Adrian Opre; Lois Grayson; Steven Muncer

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.03.049

Sex differences are not attenuated by a sex-invariant measure of fear: The situated fear questionnaire

Anne C. Campbell, Claire Coombes, Raluca David, Adrian Opre, Lois Grayson, Steven Muncer

SSSHL Psychology

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Abstract

Widely-used fear questionnaires may exaggerate sex differences because they do not ensure sex invariance of items and conflate anxiety with fear. Beginning with 50 descriptions of fear-eliciting situations, we used Rasch analysis to identify sex-invariant items and Mokken analysis to establish unidimensional scalability. The resulting 27-item Situated Fear Questionnaire (SFQ) correlated highly with the widely-used Fear Survey Schedule, while demonstrating better discrimination between anxiety and fear. Sex differences in three samples were all in excess of d = 1.00 and were not explained by gender role adherence or anxiety levels. The hedonic tone associated with fear situations (ranging from distressing/alarming to thrilling/exhilarating) was rated as more positive by men and this was only partially explained by their lower reported fear.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	210-219
Journal	Personality and Individual Differences
Volume	97
Early online date	31 Mar 2016
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.03.049
Publication status	Published - 31 Mar 2016

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http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0191886916302033

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abstract = "Widely-used fear questionnaires may exaggerate sex differences because they do not ensure sex invariance of items and conflate anxiety with fear. Beginning with 50 descriptions of fear-eliciting situations, we used Rasch analysis to identify sex-invariant items and Mokken analysis to establish unidimensional scalability. The resulting 27-item Situated Fear Questionnaire (SFQ) correlated highly with the widely-used Fear Survey Schedule, while demonstrating better discrimination between anxiety and fear. Sex differences in three samples were all in excess of d = 1.00 and were not explained by gender role adherence or anxiety levels. The hedonic tone associated with fear situations (ranging from distressing/alarming to thrilling/exhilarating) was rated as more positive by men and this was only partially explained by their lower reported fear.",

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AU - Muncer, Steven

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