ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to determine important sources of threat and anxiety for adolescents in the Mexican culture, along with the subcultural variance attributable to sex and social class. Gender, social class, and their combination appeared to fundamentally influence the type of stimulus situations that were perceived as threatening. The specificity of the sources of threat was greatest when the combined effects of gender and social class were evaluated. The anxiety proneness of lower-class boys was positively correlated with higher perceived potency of sickness, sadness, death, and drunkenness. The highest correlation of anxiety proneness for group was with familiarity with separation from school. In contrast to girls, there is greater pressure on boys in the Mexican culture to complete higher education. In the Mexican culture, to be male carries not only high prestige, but also a correspondingly high responsibility to live up to it.
