Gender differences in stress and coping styles

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Abstract

This study examines gender differences in stress and coping in a sample of 2816 people (1566 women and 1250 men) between 18 and 65 years old, with different sociodemographic characteristics. The results of MANCOVA, after adjusting for sociodemographic variables, indicated that the women scored significantly higher than the men in chronic stress and minor daily stressors. Although there was no difference in the number of life events experienced in the previous two years, the women rated their life events as more negative and less controllable than the men. Furthermore, we found gender differences in 14 of the 31 items listed, with the women listing family and health-related events more frequently than the men, whereas the men listed relationship, finance and work-related events. The women scored significantly higher than the men on the emotional and avoidance coping styles and lower on rational and detachment coping. The men were found to have more emotional inhibition than the women. And the women scored significantly higher than the men on somatic symptoms and psychological distress. Although the effect sizes are low, the results of this study suggest that women suffer more stress than men and their coping style is more emotion-focused than that of men.

Introduction

Studies consistently find gender differences in certain measures of health, such as anxiety, depression, and some physical illnesses (e.g. Barnett, Biener, & Baruch, 1987; Mirowsky & Ross, 1995; Cleary, 1987; Nolen-Hoeksema, 1987; Weissman & Klerman, 1977). While the reason for this discrepancy is not clear, one of the contributing factors could be stress differences (Aneshensel & Pearlin, 1987; Barnett et al., 1987; Baum & Grunberg, 1991; Billings & Moos, 1984; McDonough & Walters, 2001; Mirowsky & Ross, 1995; Turner, Wheaton, & Lloyd, 1995; Wethington, McLeod, & Kessler, 1987).

Despite the many studies that have been done on the relationship between stress and health, the nature of this relationship has not yet been clearly established. The correlations between life stress and illness have been very modest, typically below 0.30 (Rabkin & Struening, 1976) and there is little agreement over the definition and measure of these constructs. Some authors (i.e. Billings & Moos, 1984; Pearlin, 1989; Pearlin & Schooler, 1978; Turner et al., 1995) assert that stressful experiences are not limited to the realm of stressful life events, but also include the ongoing and difficult conditions of daily life, which some authors refer to as chronic stressors, or stressors that tend to persist over long periods of time (Wheaton, 1983). It has also been found that there are wide individual differences in both cognitive and physiological responses to stress, and the relationship between stress and health is influenced by a variety of moderator variables, including personality, however findings have been inconclusive (Steptoe, 1983). Moreover, as Baruch, Biener, and Barnett (1987) argue, progress in this area has been limited by focusing more on males and by neglecting gender as a variable.

Gender affects each element in the stress process as much in the input, by determining whether a situation will be perceived as stressful, as in the output, influencing coping responses and the health implications of stress reactions (Barnett et al., 1987). Although the literature examining the relation between gender and stress reveals several conflicting outcomes, numerous authors have determined that women find themselves in stressful circumstances more often than men (e.g., Almeida & Kessler, 1998; McDonough & Walters, 2001). Other authors have suggested that it is possible that women appraise threatening events as more stressful than men do (Miller & Kirsch, 1987; Ptacek, Smith, & Zanas, 1992). Furthermore, women have been found to have more chronic stress than men (McDonough & Walters, 2001; Turner et al., 1995; Nolen-Hoeksema, Larson, & Grayson, 1999) and are exposed to more daily stress associated with their routine role functioning (Kessler & McLeod, 1984). Women are also more likely to report home and family life events as stressful (Oman & King, 2000) and stress related to gendered caring roles (Lee, 1999, Lee, 2001; Walters, 1993). In addition, women experience gender-specific stressors such as gender violence and sexist discrimination, which are associated with women’s physical and psychiatric events (Heim et al., 2000; Klonoff, Landrine, & Campbell, 2000; Koss, Koss, & Woodruff, 1991; Landrine, Klonoff, Gibbs, Manning, & Lund, 1995). Women also were more affected by the stress of those around them, as they tend to be more emotionally involved than men in social and family networks (Kessler & McLeod, 1984; Turner et al., 1995).

Social roles also seem relevant in the stressful life experiences of women and men (Aneshensel, Frerichs, & Clark, 1981; Aneshensel & Pearlin, 1987; Cleary & Mechanic, 1983). Role occupancy determines the range of potentially stressful experiences, increases the chance of exposure to some stressors and precludes the presence of others. But as Aneshensel and Pearlin (1987) suggest, the conditions people face once they occupy a role is a source of differential stress, since people may have very different experiences within the same role. Women and men differ in the frequency of their occupancy of social roles and in their experiences within similar social roles. Women’s position at work and in the family is less favorable since they carry a greater burden of demands and limitations (Matthews, Hertzman, Ostry, & Power, 1998; Mirowsky & Ross, 1995).

Coping has been defined as the constantly changing cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage specific external and/or internal demands that have been evaluated as taking up or exceeding the resources of the person (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Research recognizes two major functions of coping: regulating stressful emotions, and altering the person–environment relation causing the distress (Folkman, Lazarus, Dunkel-Schetter, Delongis, & Gruen, 1986). Problem-focused coping includes cognitive and behavioral attempts to modify or eliminate the stressful situation. In contrast, emotion-focused coping involves attempts to regulate emotional responses elicited by the situation (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980). Researchers have suggested that emotion-focused coping is less effective and more likely to be associated with psychological distress than is problem-focused coping (Billings and Moos, 1981, Billings and Moos, 1984; Pearlin & Schooler, 1978; Sigmon, Stanton, & Snyder, 1995).

Findings on studies of gender differences in coping behavior are not definitive. While Miller and Kirsch (1987) acknowledge their methodological constraints and the fact that further research is needed, they found that many studies report differences in how women and men cope with stress, with men tending to deal with stress by problem-focused coping, while women tend to use strategies that modify their emotional response, although these tendencies can change in certain circumstances. For example, Ben-Zur and Zeidner (1996) have found that women tended to be more active and problem-focused than men in their coping during the Gulf War crisis, whereas men, compared to women, reported more emotion-focused coping. And this pattern of gender differences was reversed for coping with daily stressors after the war.

Two main hypotheses have been put forth that account for gender differences in how individuals cope with stressful events: the socialization hypothesis and the role-constraint hypothesis (Ptacek et al., 1992; Rosario, Shinn, Morch, & Huckabee, 1988). Several authors (i.e., Almeida & Kessler, 1998; Barnett et al., 1987) have suggested that the impact of gender on the stress process could be conditioned by traditional socialization patterns. The traditional female gender role prescribes dependence, affiliation, emotional expressiveness, a lack of assertiveness, and the subordination of one’s own needs to those of others. On the other hand, the traditional male role prescribes attributes such as autonomy, self-confidence, assertiveness, instrumentality and being goal-oriented. These types of attributes would make it difficult for men to accept and express feelings of weakness, incompetence and fear, while for women it would be more difficult to take a proactive problem-solving stance. The stress associated with gender role identification is different for each sex because women are more likely to identify with the feminine gender role, and men are more likely to identify with the masculine gender role. By contrast, the role constraint hypothesis argues that gender differences in coping may by explained by differences for men and women in the likelihood of occupying particular social roles and the role-related resources and opportunities (Rosario et al., 1988).

Recently some authors have criticized the psychological theories of coping with stress and have recognized differences in psychological development between women and men. Also, there is growing interest in studying women’s lives and the unique circumstances that they face (Banyard & Graham-Bermann, 1993; Kayser & Sormanti, 2002; Kayser, Sormanti, & Strainchamps, 1999). Other critics feel that there is not enough emphasis on the issue of power and how it may act as mediator in the stress and coping process across gender. These critics recognize the influence of social forces such as sexism and access to power as variables in the coping process, rather than solely focusing on the individual (Banyard & Graham-Bermann, 1993). Given these socialization patterns and the relatively low status of women in most occupational situations, it is not surprising that women, more often than men, perceive having inadequate resources for coping with a threatening situation and also see a stressful situation as unchangeable, and tend to turn to others for support.

This study was designed to explore gender differences in some stress process variables in a broad sample of the general population. The questions we seek to address are: first what are the differences in stress between men and women and second what are the differences in coping styles and emotional control between men and women.

Section snippets

Participants

This study analyses the responses of a convenience sample of 2816 people (1566 women and 1250 men) between 18 and 65 years old. The mean age for women was 34.3 (SD=11.8) and for men it was 31.88 (SD=11.5). All participants were residents of the Canary Islands, Spain, a homogeneous population of European ethnicity. In Table 1, we present the principal sociodemographic characteristics of both groups. As can be observed, there are representatives of all the sociodemographic groups, and although

Results

Multivariate and univariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVA) were performed to test for gender differences in stress, health and coping variables. Adjustment was made for the sociodemographic variables that were different for both groups: age, number of children, educational level and occupation. Marital status was not included because it is highly associated with the number of children. It was found that 98.1% of the single men and 95.5% of the single women had no children.

The results of

Discussion

Even though the magnitude of the differences between women and men is small and the percentage of variance explained is low, we have found significant differences in several stress-related variables. Women have more daily stress, with more chronic problems and conflicts and daily demands and frustrations. Although women and men did not differ in the number of life events and changes experienced within the past two years, these events seemed to impact women more since they rated them as less

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants from the Women’s Institute and from the Consejerı́a de Educación, Cultura y Deportes of the Canary Islands. The author would also like to thank the reviewers for their helpful comments.

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