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

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1210 Downloads (Pure)

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

Access to Document

10.1016/j.paid.2016.03.049Licence: Other

Accepted manuscriptAccepted author manuscript, 683 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

@article{8bc4a1c86d59488ea95ec388e93e59cd,

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

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.",

author = "Campbell, {Anne C.} and Claire Coombes and Raluca David and Adrian Opre and Lois Grayson and Steven Muncer",

year = "2016",

month = mar,

day = "31",

doi = "10.1016/j.paid.2016.03.049",

language = "English",

volume = "97",

pages = "210--219",

journal = "Personality and Individual Differences",

issn = "0191-8869",

publisher = "Elsevier B.V.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Sex differences are not attenuated by a sex-invariant measure of fear: The situated fear questionnaire

AU - Campbell, Anne C.

AU - Coombes, Claire

AU - David, Raluca

AU - Opre, Adrian

AU - Grayson, Lois

AU - Muncer, Steven

PY - 2016/3/31

Y1 - 2016/3/31

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

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

U2 - 10.1016/j.paid.2016.03.049

DO - 10.1016/j.paid.2016.03.049

M3 - Article

SN - 0191-8869

VL - 97

SP - 210

EP - 219

JO - Personality and Individual Differences

JF - Personality and Individual Differences

ER -

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

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this