The Attitudes of Men and Women concerning Gender Differences in Grief

Abstract

Attitudes concerning gender and grief were investigated using a convenience sample of 106 men and women ages 23 to 82 years. Participants rated conjugal grief behaviors of target figures for sympathy and appropriateness on the Attitudes Toward Gender and Grief Scale, rated their own sex-role type on the Bem Sex Role Inventory, and provided demographic information and a brief grief history. Results from factor analysis of the Attitudes Toward Gender and Grief Scale showed evidence for the construct validity of the scale by yielding three factors: sympathy, appropriateness of instrumental grief, and appropriateness of intuitive grief. The hypothesis that factor analysis of the Attitudes Toward Gender and Grief Scale would show that vignettes describing gender-stereotypical grief behavior would load positively on factors for sympathy and appropriateness was not confirmed. However, the hypothesis that female participants would give more sympathy to grieving people than males was confirmed. Contrary to expectation, participants did not give female target figures more sympathy than male figures; women did not give the most sympathy to female target figures; and men did not give male target figures the least sympathy. As hypothesized, feminine sex-typed and androgynous participants gave more sympathy to grieving people than masculine sex-typed participants. Findings were discussed in terms of evolutionary, developmental, and sex-role socialization theories.