Cynical hostility and deficiencies in functional support: the moderating role of gender in psychosocial vulnerability to disease

This study examined whether gender moderates the association between hostility and social support. 69 female and 81 male university students completed the Cook–Medley hostility (Ho) scale and a multidimensional functional support scale tapping the perceived availability of four different kinds of social provisions. Although hostility was inversely related to social support in both females and males, the magnitude of this association was substantially stronger among females. This moderating effect was particularly pronounced for belongingness support and less noticeable for esteem support and tangible support. Moreover, an abbreviated 27-item Ho subscale yielded associations very similar to the 50-item total Ho scale. These findings help specify more clearly the social component of the psychosocial vulnerability model of hostility-related disease risk. In particular, the data suggest the model might be refined by giving greater attention to the influence of gender-role socialisation on the multi-dimensional social support process and by differentiating between various types of supportive provisions. Finally, the present data also support the usefulness of the examining components of hostility.