SOCIAL-SEXUAL OPINIONS AS A FUNCTION OF GENDER, SELF-ESTEEM AND MENSTRUAL-CYCLE PHASE

Thirty-two male and 68 female college students differing in self-estee m indicated the extent of their agreement with statements concerning g ender-related social issues and they also predicted the opinions of a member of the other gender. Measures of negativity toward others, self -esteem, and physical pain were evaluated as a function of menstrual c ycle phase. Low self-esteem students held more stereotype attitudes as compared to high self-esteem students, F(1,96) = 4.31, p = .038. Whil e the males accurately judged the opinions of the females, the females predicted that the males were more negatively biased than the actual opinions expressed by the males would indicate (p<.001 for all interac tion effects). Measures of self-esteem, social-sexual attitudes and de pression were not significantly influenced by menstrual cycle phase. T he results indicated that women's negativity toward men appears to res ult from frustrations experienced by women in the face of unfilled exp ectations rather than to Low self-esteem. The results also support pre vious findings that variations in gonadal hormone levels appear not to be an important factor in women's moods.