Gender, Anxiety and Personality

BACKGROUND: Gender differences in anxiety disorders and personality have been reported, but few studies have evaluated gender differences in the relationship between anxiety and personality in a normative sample. AIM: The goal of the present study was to evaluate gender differences anxiety and personality in a normative sample. METHOD: In the present study, 124 (94 female, 30 male) undergraduate students were evaluated with the State Trait Anxiety Inventory and the NEO Five Factor Inventory of personality. RESULTS: The female participants showed greater Trait Anxiety and Neuroticism than male participants, with trends for the female participants to show greater State Anxiety and Agreeableness than the male participants. Both male and female participants showed strong relationships between State and Trait Anxiety and increased Neuroticism. Additionally, both male and female participants showed a relationship between decreased Extraversion and increased Anxiety. Neither gender showed any relationship between anxiety and Openness, consistent with other studies. The female participants, but not the male participants, showed strong relationships between higher State and Trait Anxiety and lower Agreeableness and lower Conscientiousness. CONCLUSION: The different relationship of anxiety and personality in the male and female participants may suggest that this relationship may have a different underlying structure in each gender.