Women’s Experiences of Benevolent Sexism in Intimate Relationships With Men Are Associated With Costs and Benefits for Personal and Relationship Wellbeing
{"title":"Women’s Experiences of Benevolent Sexism in Intimate Relationships With Men Are Associated With Costs and Benefits for Personal and Relationship Wellbeing","authors":"Beatrice Alba, Emily J. Cross, Matthew D. Hammond","doi":"10.1177/19485506241256695","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Women’s everyday experiences of benevolent sexism include being praised for loving men (heterosexual intimacy), praised for caregiving (complementary gender differentiation), and being overhelped (protective paternalism). We investigated women’s perceptions of partners and their wellbeing in the context of self-reported experiences of benevolent sexism in their relationships with men. Integrated data analysis on three community samples of women in Australia (total N = 724) indicated that women’s experiences of protective paternalism were associated with greater psychological distress, lower relationship satisfaction, and perceiving partners as less reliable and more patronizing and undermining. By contrast, experiencing heterosexual intimacy was associated with perceiving partners as more reliable, less patronizing and undermining, and with greater relationship satisfaction. Mixed associations emerged for experiencing complementary gender differentiation, including lower psychological distress and also lower relationship wellbeing. These findings advance understanding of the specific costs and benefits of benevolent sexism in relationships between women and men.","PeriodicalId":21853,"journal":{"name":"Social Psychological and Personality Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.3000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Social Psychological and Personality Science","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/19485506241256695","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Women’s everyday experiences of benevolent sexism include being praised for loving men (heterosexual intimacy), praised for caregiving (complementary gender differentiation), and being overhelped (protective paternalism). We investigated women’s perceptions of partners and their wellbeing in the context of self-reported experiences of benevolent sexism in their relationships with men. Integrated data analysis on three community samples of women in Australia (total N = 724) indicated that women’s experiences of protective paternalism were associated with greater psychological distress, lower relationship satisfaction, and perceiving partners as less reliable and more patronizing and undermining. By contrast, experiencing heterosexual intimacy was associated with perceiving partners as more reliable, less patronizing and undermining, and with greater relationship satisfaction. Mixed associations emerged for experiencing complementary gender differentiation, including lower psychological distress and also lower relationship wellbeing. These findings advance understanding of the specific costs and benefits of benevolent sexism in relationships between women and men.
期刊介绍:
Social Psychological and Personality Science (SPPS) is a distinctive journal in the fields of social and personality psychology that focuses on publishing brief empirical study reports, typically limited to 5000 words. The journal's mission is to disseminate research that significantly contributes to the advancement of social psychological and personality science. It welcomes submissions that introduce new theories, present empirical data, propose innovative methods, or offer a combination of these elements. SPPS also places a high value on replication studies, giving them serious consideration regardless of whether they confirm or challenge the original findings, with a particular emphasis on replications of studies initially published in SPPS. The journal is committed to a rapid review and publication process, ensuring that research can swiftly enter the scientific discourse and become an integral part of ongoing academic conversations.