Gender-based Variations in Emotional Self-disclosure among Undergraduate Students

Description

Page: 484-488

Suprit Kaur and Rashmi Upreti (Department of Human Development and Family Studies, PAU, Ludhiana, Punjab)

This study investigates gender differences in emotional self-disclosure among undergraduate students, emphasizing the significance of understanding how gender influences emotional expression in youth. Emotional self-disclosure, or the act of sharing personal feelings and emotions, plays a crucial role in mental health, relationship quality and overall well-being. This study examines gender differences in emotional self-disclosure among undergraduate students, focusing on rural and urban areas of the Ludhiana district of Punjab. A total of 380 students (190 rural & 190 urban) were randomly selected from five colleges, with equal distribution across genders (i.e., 95 boys & 95 girls). Data was collected using a Self-Structured Information Sheet and the Emotional Self-Disclosure Scale by Snell et al. (2013). The findings revealed that overall, girls from both rural and urban areas; disclosed emotions more frequently than their boys’ counterparts. Gender-based analysis indicated that girls demonstrated moderate levels of self-disclosure across emotions, whereas boys showed limited openness. Specifically, mean scores for disclosing emotions like happiness and anger were higher among rural girls as compared to rural boys, whereas in urban girls’ emotions like happiness, calmness, and fear were higher as compared to urban boys, suggesting a stronger overall tendency for emotional self-disclosure in girls than boys. These findings underscore the role of gender in shaping emotional expression, especially in the context of cultural expectations, and highlight the need for further research into the socio-cultural factors influencing these gendered patterns in emotional disclosure among young adults.