SEX-DIFFERENCES IN SELF-REPORTED CORONARY-PRONE FACTORS

The FABA self-report questionnaire on coronary-prone behaviour was app lied to 628 GDR subjects (343 males, 285 females), who included studen ts, blue- and white-collar worker, and hypertensive patients, all spli t into three age groups (18-30, 31-50, and 51-65 years). Four scales h ad been previously established by factor analysis: Work Obsession (WO) , Dominance/Competition (DC), Reactive Uncontrol (RU), and Need for Pl anning (PN). Two-tailed MANOVA and ANOVA were applied to analyse the e ffects of sex, age, and type of respondent (i.e. student, worker, or h ypertensive) on scale means, using the defined sub-groups. No signific ant sex differences on WO and PN were found. With regard to DC, males of all sub-groups consistently rated themselves as more dominant and c ompetitive than females. These differences were highly significant. RU was higher only in female students and female hypertensives. There wa s a significant age effect on DC and PN: the older the workers and hyp ertensives of both sexes, the more dominant and obsessed with planning they were. No influence of the type of respondent was apparent. Resul ts are discussed in the light of cross-cultural research on gender dif ferences and the particular socio-economic situation of the former GDR . (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.