Gender Differences In Stress Coping Content Flashcards
What did Taylor (2000) suggest about stress responses?
Men and females typically have very different stress responses, with men primarily possessing a ‘fight or flight’ response while the ‘tend and befriend response’ is most common in females
What approach did Taylor (2000) use to justify the common gender stress responses?
Focuses on evolution and natural selection:
. Historically, males responded through denial and aggression to survive, but this wouldn’t be adaptive for females as this would risk the survival of their offspring. A tend and befriend response is a more adaptive trait to take care of their offspring
. Tend and befriend is an adaptive stress response in females as they invest more in each single reproduction, to maximise the survival of themselves and their offspring
What did Vogel’s (1997) suggest about gender stereotypes in stress?
. Suggests men are less open about their feeling and arm more likely to turn to harmful coping mechanisms such as smoking and drinking
. Men tend to feel that anger is an acceptable stress response and suppressing that anger will make them more stressed
Despite physiological similarities in stress, what differentiates physical stress responses in men and women?
. Oxytocin is produced in both sexes, but is more effective in females as oestrogen increases the effects of oxytocin while testosterone dampens the effects of oxytocin.
How is oxytocin an adaptive hormone to have for females?
. It is released during the tend and befriend response, promoting feelings of affiliation to encourage bonding behaviour.
This means that females encourage caring bonding behaviour with their offspring due to oxytocin which lowers their stress levels and keeps their offspring safe.
- in this sense, females are better protected than men against stress
Oxytocin is like a shield against stress as it disengages from an aggressive or stimulating stress response (‘fight or flight’)
How can tend and befriend responses help to cope with stress externally?
Females will tend to seek social support to cope with their stress as the tend and befriend response encourages seeking closeness with others
When is the trend and befriend response highest in females?
During breastfeeding as oxytocin is released especially during this time
What did Lazarus and Folkman (1984) suggest about coping responses in genders?
. There are two types of coping responses emotion:
. Emotion-focused coping response (mainly women)
. Problem-focused coping response (mainly men)
What is an emotion-focused coping response to stress?
Copying through trying to reduce negative emotional responses associated with stress such as anxiety, fear, embarrassment, excitement and frustration
What is a problem-focused coping response to stress?
Targeting the cause of stress in practical ways, tackling the factors causing the stress to directly reduce it.
How does socialisation theory contribute to this topic?
It claims that women are taught to express their emotions more
What is role constraint theory?
The social roles of genders dictate their way of coping with stress. It appears that males and females cope differently, but they have different stressors to cope with so it is a different form of stress
- this explains the difference coping mechanisms to stress in males and females
What was the sample of Matud (2004)?
. Almost 3000 Spanish men and women aged 18-65
How does Matud (2004) support role constraint theory?
. Men rated work, relationships and finance as most stressful (requires more problem-focused coping)
. Females found family and health most stressful (requires more emotion-focused coping)
What was the procedure of Brennan and Peterson et al (2006)?
. just over 1000 men and women seeking fertility treatment at a hospital were recruited for a study on coping styles
. Asked to complete several questionnaires, such as the ‘Ways of Coping Questionnaire’ by Lazarus and Folkman
