Women more sensitive to irksome behaviour than men: Study

A new study has revealed that women are more likely to get irked than men at irritating or boorish behaviour exhibited by acquaintances, friends or partners.

"Women generally are more sensitive to other people's annoying behaviour than men," said a researcher Christopher J. Hopwood from Michigan State University in the US.

"They're maybe more socially aware, on average, and so perhaps it's easier for them to pick out things that are annoying than men are," Hopwood added.

The researchers conducted a survey of 235 people to evaluate whether women and men differ in their sensitivities to the aversive behaviour of the people with whom they interact.

The study, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, examined a number of aversive behaviours such as being antagonistic, controlling and overly or inappropriately affectionate.

The findings are compelling, the study notes, because of the cultural implications they have for understanding detrimental behaviour that could lead to relationship problems.