Gender as a Moderator in the Association between Childhood Trauma and Risk-Taking Propensity

Abstract

Previous research indicates that in response to acute laboratory stressors, males may become more risk-prone whereas females may become more risk-averse. To date, there has been limited research investigating whether these gender differences are observed in response to real-world stressors and, more importantly, whether the stress by gender interaction on risk-taking propensity (RTP) is observed long after the stressor. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine whether gender moderates the association between childhood abuse (i.e., a real-world stressor) and individual differences in RTP in adulthood. A community sample of 140 adults reported on their history of childhood abuse and completed a behavioral assessment of RTP. Different forms of childhood abuse (e.g., physical, emotional) were examined separately. After adjusting for age, a significant gender by childhood physical abuse and gender by physical neglect interaction on RTP was found. Specifically, women with a history of physical abuse or neglect exhibited significantly less RTP; however, there was no relation between physical abuse or neglect and RTP in men. Gender did not interact with emotional abuse to predict RTP. These findings support existing literature demonstrating that gender and stress interact to predict individual differences in RTP, but further extend the literature by demonstrating these gender-stress interactions exist for distal, real-world stressors.