Gender differences in self-disclosure to various target persons

In Exp I, 54 male and 54 female undergraduates reported their willingness to self-disclose about 14 topics to each of 3 same-gender target persons: a stranger, an acquaintance, and an intimate friend. The data show an interaction of S's gender and target person, demonstrating that males are mor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of counseling psychology 1980-03, Vol.27 (2), p.192-198
Main Authors: Stokes, Joseph, Fuehrer, Ann, Childs, Laurence
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Friendship
Human
Human Sex Differences
Interpersonal Interaction
Intimacy
Self-Disclosure
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Summary:In Exp I, 54 male and 54 female undergraduates reported their willingness to self-disclose about 14 topics to each of 3 same-gender target persons: a stranger, an acquaintance, and an intimate friend. The data show an interaction of S's gender and target person, demonstrating that males are more willing than females to disclose to strangers and acquaintances, but females are more willing than males to disclose to intimates. The results suggest a tendency for men to avoid emotional intimacy with one another. Competition among men and homophobia are offered as explanations for this lack of intimacy among men. A 2nd experiment (69 males, 79 females), which included both same-gender and opposite-gender target persons, replicated the findings of Exp I but did not support the competition or homophobia explanations. (18 ref)
ISSN:0022-0167
1939-2168
DOI:10.1037/0022-0167.27.2.192