Gender Differncesnwith Coping With Stress Flashcards
Men response to stress - Taylor
men and women have completely different stress responses.
As a consequence of our evolutionary history males respond to stress through aggression-“fight or flight”, due to when men had to protect their families.
Women response to stress
Tend and befriend response - as they’re protecting, nurturing, calming approach to a stressor.
Oxytocin is released during “tend and befriend” and is described as a “love“ hormone.
- it’s produced in both sexes but females have oestrogen that enhances the effect of oxytocin where as males’ testosterone has a dampening effect on oxytocin.
As a result, the stress response is reduced in women
How does gender stereotypes affect responses to stress and who suggests thus
Vogele
suggest men are less open about their feelings and less likely to discuss their feelings instead using more harmful methods e.g. smoking and drinking. Also men feel that anger is an acceptable response in stressful situations.
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN COPING WITH STRESS- men
Who suggest it
Brody
men are more likely to use problem-focused
Deal with stress in a practical way which tackles the stressful situation and directly reduces stress.
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN COPING WITH STRESS-women
women use more emotional focus to cope with stress
Share their stress, talk about it, cry, be upset etc.
Research support of gender differences and stress
Matud
3000 men and women
Men-rated work, finance and relationships as most stressful which , at require a more problem-focused response.
Women rated family. relationships and health as most stressful which may require a emotion-focused response.
Shows there are gender differences in the amount of stress and how they cope with it.
Evaluation
❌ Problems at work are better tackled by problem-focused techniques, whereas problems such as relationships with family members are better dealt with by emotion-focused techniques.
Therefore, gender differences are a response to different types of stressors, rather than a fundamental difference in the way men and women cope with stress.
