Effect of gender-types on interpersonal stress measured by blink rate and questionnaires: Focusing on stereotypically sex-typed and androgynous types

This study was conducted to determine how differences of self gender-type and partner’s gender-type in Japan had an effect on interpersonal stress (anxiety/uneasiness) during a conversation among mixed-sex pairs. The level of interpersonal stress was discussed in relation to blink rate. The participants were assigned to one of the following four pair types: (a) Male and female were androgynous (maleA-femaleA); (b) Male was androgynous and female was stereotypically sex-typed as feminine (maleA-femaleST); (c) Male was stereotypically sex-typed as masculine and female was androgynous (maleST-femaleA); (d) Both were stereotypically sex-typed (maleST-femaleST). Dependent measures were (1) Blink rate during 5-minute conversation at 1-minute intervals, and (2) Questionnaires (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory I and Iceberg Profile). Results suggested that participants who had a conversation with an androgynous partner reduced their interpersonal stress.