Guilt is a ‘fair’ thing

Women feel guilty and punish themselves much more than the opposite sex, says a recent study

It’s a research which is likely to make a number of men happy — more than 96% women feel ashamed at least once a day, while for almost half, the feeling of guilt strikes up to four times a day. According to the study, women beat themselves up daily about their friendships, relationships, work and body shape.

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It was found that almost half of respondents were kept awake at night by guilt, while three quarters said that they had experienced more guilt since giving birth. Eating unhealthily topped the list of causes, followed by not spending enough time with family and neglecting work.

However, members of the opposite sex do not punish themselves in quite the same way. Of the 1,324 women and 55 men questioned by Stylist magazine, 92% claimed that men felt less guilt than women.

Experts claim the difference is because women blame themselves for their failures, while men point the finger at external factors, the Daily Mail reported.

Dr Cynthia McVey, head of psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University, said: “Men tend to externalise faults. They fail an exam because ‘the room was too hot’ while women are more likely to internalise faults and would be more likely to admit to feeling guilty because ‘I am stupid’.” Among the reasons that women gave for feeling guilty, were not recycling and being grumpy with loved ones.