This research reports age and gender differences in cardiac reactivity and subjective responses to the induction of autobiographical memories related to anger, fear, sadness, and happiness. Heart rate (HR) and subjective state were assessed at baseline and after the induction of each emotion in 113 individuals (61 men, 52 women; 66% European American, 34% African American) ranging in age from 15 to 88 years (M = 50.0; SD = 20.2). Cardiac reactivity was lower in older individuals; however, for anger and fear, these age effects were significantly more pronounced for the women than the men. There were no gender differences in subjective responses, however, suggesting that the lower cardiac reactivity found among older people is dependent on gender and the specific emotion assessed.
We examined the associations among gender, antisocial behavior, and peer-group affiliation in a high-risk sample of 401 homeless and matched housed adolescents (139 boys and 262 girls). The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (Version 2.3, 1991; Costello, Edelbrock, Kalas, Kessler, & Klaric, 1982) yielded 2 measures of adolescent antisocial behavior: symptoms of conduct disorder and substance abuse or dependence. Various deviant behaviors of friends were assessed based on adolescent self-report. Results indicated that, for both boys and girls, having many deviant peers was associated with more antisocial behavior, regardless of the number of boys in the peer network. Furthermore, findings suggest that the relation between number of deviant peers and antisocial behavior may be stronger for boys and homeless adolescents than for girls and housed adolescents, respectively. The results of prior studies indicating that antisocial behavior is a function of affiliation with male peers may be due to the higher frequencies of maladaptive behaviors evidenced in boys in normative samples.
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