مردسالاری و زن سالاری به عنوان ویژگی های ملی و رابطه آن با سطح موقعیت هراس: فرضیه نقش جنسیت فودور احیا شده

Hofstede’s dimension of national culture termed Masculinity–Femininity [Hofstede (1991). Cultures and organizations: software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill] is proposed to be of relevance for understanding national-level differences in self-assessed agoraphobic fears. This prediction is based on the classical work of Fodor [ Fodor (1974). In: V. Franks & V. Burtle (Eds.), Women in therapy: new psychotherapies for a changing society. New York: Brunner/Mazel]. A unique data set comprising 11 countries (total N=5491 students) provided the opportunity of scrutinizing this issue. It was hypothesized and found that national Masculinity (the degree to which cultures delineate sex roles, with masculine or tough societies making clearer differentiations between the sexes than feminine or modest societies do) would correlate positively with national agoraphobic fear levels (as assessed with the Fear Survey Schedule—III). Following the correction for sex and age differences across national samples, a significant and large effect-sized national-level (ecological) r=+0.67 (P=0.01) was found. A highly feminine society such as Sweden had the lowest, whereas the champion among the masculine societies, Japan, had the highest national Agoraphobic fear score.

The essential feature of Agoraphobia is anxiety about being in places or situations from which escape might be difficult (or embarrassing) or in which help may not be available in the event of having panic-like symptoms (e.g. fear of having a sudden attack of dizziness or a sudden attack of diarrhea) or a panic attack. A panic attack is defined as a discrete period of intense fear or discomfort, in which a number of anxiety symptoms (e.g. ‘palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate’, ‘sweating’, ‘trembling or shaking’, ‘fear of dying’, ‘sensations of shortness of breath’, ‘chest pain or discomfort’) developed abruptly and reached a peak within 10 min ( American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1995, p. 405). The anxiety typically leads to a pervasive avoidance of a variety of situations that may include being alone outside the home or being alone at home; being in a crowd of people; travelling in an automobile, bus, or airplane; or being on a bridge or in an elevator ( APA, 1995, p. 406). Some individuals are able to expose themselves to the feared situations but endure these with considerable dread; often an individual is better able to confront a feared situation when accompanied by a companion. In addition, individuals’ avoidance of situations may impair their abilities to travel to work or to carry out homemaking responsibilities (e.g. grocery shopping, taking children to the doctor) ( APA, 1995, p. 406). The Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders—fourth edition (DSM-IV; APA, 1995, p. 406) distinguishes between Panic Disorder With Agoraphobia and Agoraphobia Without a History of Panic Disorder.