Page No: 260-269
Priyansi B. Kanakia, Kishor D. Bhanushali, and Nasreen Ansari
Karnavati University, Gandhinagar, India
A common mental illness, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), shows clear gender
variations in presentation and severity. Studies on GAD among middle-aged company
owners remain few despite their vulnerability to financial uncertainty, market
competitiveness, and workload stress. Among 200 middle-aged entrepreneurs (110
men, 90 women) in Ahmedabad, India, this study investigated gender variations in
GAD and the relationship between gender and GAD severity. An independent samples
t-test using the GAD-7 scale found that male company owners (M = 3.50, SD = 3.75)
reported notably more anxiety than female business owners (M = 2.49, SD = 3.26), t
(198) = 2.010, p =. 466. GAD scores dropped when gender changed from male to
female according to a modest but noteworthy negative association (r = -0.141, p =.046).
These results emphasize the importance of focused mental health treatments for
company owners; further studies on socioeconomic factors influencing GAD in
entrepreneurial environments will help to further this point.