Women and men experience and deal with stress differently. Results from surveys suggest that women are more likely to show physical stress symptoms, and to outperform men in seeking social support to reduce their stress. Let’s look at the numbers that reveal gender differences in stress reactions.
Similar stress levels, different perception
In several surveys, men and women have reported similar stress levels on average. The differences between men and women are thus not coming from the amount of stress. Rather, they find their origin in stress perception, and in the causes of stress. Men and women worry about different things.
- More women than men express the feeling that their stress is on the rise over the last five years (49% of women vs 39% of men)
- The percentage of women that report high stress levels is 28% in women, and 20% in men
- Women are more likely to report physical and emotional symptoms than men. These include having felt as though they could cry (44% vs 15%), headaches (41% vs 30%), or having stomach and intestinal problems (32% vs 21%).
- Women see financial and economic issues as stressors (74% of women vs 67% of men), while men have stress at work at the top of their list (76% in men and 65% in women)
Mariage, a stressor for women?
One result that came out of a survey performed by the American Psychological Association was that married women seem to suffer from higher stress levels than single women (33% of married women vs 22% of single women). Some other statistics illustrate this difference further:
- More married women report that their stress levels have increased over the last five years (56% of married women vs 41% of single women).
- Less married women have a feeling that they are doing sufficiently to manage their stress (51% vs 63% of single women)
- In line with their higher stress levels, married women show more physical and emotional symptoms of stress than single women (about 50% of married women vs about 35% of single women)
The survey did not indicate what the causes are of these differences in stress experience and reactions to stress between married and single women. We at stressinsight think that married women have more family obligations such as raising children and more household activities than single women. Married women may have less time for themselves than singles do, and would therefore find it harder to find a moment during the day to manage their stress.
Valuing different behaviors for stress management
Men and women differ greatly in placing importance on things you can do that can mitigate stress. For example:
- More women than men consider a good relationship with their family as important (84% vs 74%)
- The same goes for friendships, although to a lesser extent (69% of women and 62% of men)
The results from this survey are in line with other studies showing that women seek social contact more often than men do to reduce stress. Men, on the other hand, tend to seek more distraction by doing sports for example.
Other differences are found in valuing a good night’s sleep, eating healthy, and exercising frequently. The first two are considered more important by women than by men, whereas exercising is more important to men than to women.
Stress management
As men and women experience and react to stress differently, it is not surprising that men and women manage stress in different ways. However, they also share ways to seek stress relief, which are generally passive. They include reading, listening and watching television. Active and healthier approaches such as exercising or seeking professional help are, unfortunately, less common choices by both men and women. This is one of the reasons why men and women find it difficult to effectively reduce their stress.
- Women deal with stress by talking about it more than men. They seek contact with family members and friends, or go to church or religious services.
- Men, on the other hand, prefer to do sports, or listen to music. This is distracting, prevents them from being sick, and some men report they do sports because they are simply good at it. Women engage less frequently in sport, with the argument that they are too tired (35% of women vs 24% of men).
- More women than men try to manage their stress by “pleasure eating”. They go after chocolate, eat too much, and eat too unhealthy.
The reported number 1 barrier to change: lack of willpower
Both men and women would like to change their behavior and passive coping strategies to reduce their stress. But for both there seems to be a big obstacle to do this: a lack of willpower, the motivation and stamina to improve themselves and to become more stress resilient.
Again, there are differences in how women and men look at this.
- 34% of women vs 24% of men indicate that the lack of willpower blocks their transition from their current to a healthy lifestyle, including eating healthier and doing sports
- Women are more likely to say that a lack of energy and fatigue undermines their willpower. More men than women indicate that they need more money (43% vs 39%), whereas women need more time (37% of women vs 29% of men)
- Men are less likely to need encouragement from family and friends to commit themselves to changing their lifestyle (28% of men, 42% of women). This follows the seeking of social support during stress by women
- As women often do more housework than men, they indicate a lot more often that having more help in the house would help to improve their willpower, as they can free up the necessary time to change their lifestyle
The apparent lack of willpower and stamina to continue is an important finding of the surveys. They apply to both men and women, although in slightly different percentages, and both give a lack of time and energy (sometimes money) as the main reasons why they do not manage to improve their lifestyle to reduce stress. But there is still another reason that nobody has really addressed. This reason is a lack of understanding of what stress precisely is. This is the reason why we founded stressinsight. We believe that a better understanding of stress leads to a better understanding of the things you can do to reduce and prevent chronic (bad) stress. And if you understand this better, you will be more motivated to continue doing the things that actually help you.
Stress reactions in men and women
How men and women experience stress, and what they do to manage it, show remarkable differences according to questionnaires and surveys. However, these are quite subjective measures, and psychiatrists and psychologists know that many participants do not always answer the questions precisely according to their experiences and lifestyle. Many participants tend to paint a sunnier picture than reality would permit.
Fortunately, scientists have confirmed differences in stress reactivity and sensitivity in men and women. Both physiological and behavioral responses differ between sexes, as you can read in this article.
