A Brief Report on Sex Differences in Identification and Engagement with Anime

Prior research, predominantly focusing on Western fans, has found that the anime fandom is comprised of a majority of males (Reysen, Plante, Roberts, Gerbasi, Mohebpour, & Gamboa, 2016). In the present research we assessed whether this tendency held true in a Filipino and US samples. Specifically, Filipino and US college students completed measures of engagement with anime content and identification with the anime fandom. Converging with prior research, the results showed that males were more engaged with anime (i.e., watching anime, reading manga, reading news, talking with others about anime) and showed higher identification with the anime fandom than females in both samples. Mediation analyses showed that identification with the fandom mediated the relationship between participant sex and engagement with anime. Together, the results highlight the importance of fandom identification to predict engagement with fandom content and the expanding evidence of gender disparity within the fandom in both the Philippines and the US.