Trigger Warnings in Psychology Classrooms? Comparing Sexes from a Diverse Religious Institution

Sensitive, oftentimes unsettling topics are inherent, especially in psychology education (Boysen et al., 2018). Prior notification - also known as trigger warnings - to help students prepare for, or avoid, possibly disturbing, upcoming education topics (Boysen, 2017, p. 164) are being pushed for by college students on potentially disturbing content. We previously replication Guy A. Boysen’s “Trigger Warnings in psychology Classes: What Do Students Think?” and found that students from a diverse, religious institution had few significant differences, but, in general, the results from the two data sets were quite similar (Kim et al, 2020). To expand on this knowledge, we compared the results of the different sexes within our sample by using an independent samples t-test to examine whether they are significantly different in rating the appropriateness of sensitive topics and warnings thereof in psychology classrooms. Of the 16 sensitive topics indicated in the questionnaire - sexual assault, child abuse, suicide, racial issues, self-harm, sexism, violence/trauma, eating disorders, religious issues, human sexuality, psychological symptoms, sexual orientation, stigma, social class, physical disability, and substance abuse - 10 were significantly different between the sexes. Females reported higher discomfort in all 16 sensitive topics, indicating more distress. Implications for informed preventions for various stakeholders, such as schools will be discussed.