Going “Straight to the Source”: Directly Measuring Ambivalent Sexism in Women’s Social Networks and Examining Its Health Implications

Abstract

This study, which takes place on a university campus, seeks to examine how the presence of hostile sexism (a component of ambivalent sexism) among the men in women’s social networks relates to women’s health outcomes as well as how this relationship might be moderated by emotional support. It was expected that the more hostile sexism present among the men in women’s social networks, the more negative women’s reported mental and physical health outcomes. Additionally, emotional support was hypothesized to moderate these expected associations such that women who reported low levels of emotional support would be particularly vulnerable to the effects associated with high levels of social network hostile sexism. While no support was ultimately found for these hypotheses, alternative explanations relating to the study’s methodology as well as directions for future research are discussed.