Abstract Applying social psychological theories of social exchange and gender socialization perspectives, we assess gender differences in the effects of receiving and giving social support on self-esteem and mastery (i.e., self-concept) for respondents in the United States. We also explore whether imbalances in support exchanges are beneficial or detrimental to self-concept for women (mean age = 72) and men (mean age = 73). We examine this topic using data from Mended Hearts volunteers. Methodologically, we investigate the gender patterns of self-esteem, mastery, and social support by examining common summary statistics (i.e., means, standard deviations, Cohen’s d) as well as locations and scales which attempt to account for skewness. We also compare results from bivariate correlations with regression analyses to ascertain if and when results converge. First, the means/standard deviations and locations/scales reveal different gendered patterns in self-concept and social support. Second, among women, we find a large positive effect of giving instrumental support on self-esteem in the regression analysis; on the other hand, the zero-order correlation reveals a weaker effect. For men, giving emotional support has a large positive effect on self-concept in both the bivariate and regression analysis. Third, reciprocity in instrumental support is generally beneficial for self-concept, but effects are larger for women. Fourth, imbalances in emotional support are associated with higher self-concept for women. Given the disjuncture between 1) summary statistics that do and do not take into account the skewness of the study measures and 2) correlations versus regression coefficients, our study suggests a need to critically address how methodological decisions (e.g., addressing skewness) affect results reported in social psychological studies and the conclusions drawn from them.

中文翻译：

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支持交流对中晚期成年人自尊和掌握影响的性别差异

摘要 应用社会交换和性别社会化视角的社会心理学理论，我们评估了美国受访者在接受和给予社会支持对自尊和掌握（即自我概念）影响方面的性别差异。我们还探讨了支持交流的不平衡对女性（平均年龄 = 72）和男性（平均年龄 = 73）的自我概念是有益还是有害。我们使用来自 Mended Hearts 志愿者的数据来研究这个主题。在方法论上，我们通过检查常见的汇总统计数据（即均值、标准差、Cohen's d）以及试图解释偏度的位置和尺度来调查自尊、掌握和社会支持的性别模式。我们还将双变量相关性的结果与回归分析进行比较，以确定结果是否以及何时收敛。首先，均值/标准差和位置/尺度揭示了自我概念和社会支持的不同性别模式。其次，在女性中，我们发现在回归分析中给予工具性支持对自尊有很大的积极影响；另一方面，零阶相关性显示出较弱的效果。对于男性来说，在双变量和回归分析中，给予情感支持对自我概念有很大的积极影响。第三，工具性支持的互惠通常有利于自我概念，但对女性的影响更大。第四，情感支持的不平衡与女性更高的自我概念有关。