Studies Case

Abstract

Studies have shown that females encounter higher levels of stress than males in the work place and household. When presented with a stressful situation, women will suppress their emotion while men will focus directly on it. Females also prefer to form connections with others to help relieve the stress. We will test this by presenting a situation to high school students to see which gender will have a higher response level to stress. We hypothesize that females will exhibit more stress in their everyday lives. We determined males will have an aggressive response to stress as well as a lower average of stress. It was concluded that on average females will be more stressed than their counterparts. Compared to females, males will react significantly less to stressful situations and prefer handle stress by using physical activity to relive stress.

Introduction

There is no argument amongst the scientific community that women and men respond to stress in different ways. Not only are women more likely to show signs of stress, but they are also more likely to be more open to fixing theirs. On a scale of one to ten, women give an average number of 5.4 while men only give a 4.8 (American Psychological Association, 2012). Women are more likely to say that stress has a large impact on their own personal heath, and that it should be dealt with. A large 61 percent of men, however, feel that they are doing enough to manage their stress despite having less of a need to manage it in the first place (American Psychological Association, 2012).

When dealing with stress, the two genders differ in their course of action. Men are more likely to take a "problem focused" solution method by making an attempt to solve or fix the problem at hand, while women are more likely to take an "emotional-focused" solution method in an effort to suppress the negative emotions of the given situation (Makhbul & Hasun, 2012). Women are also more likely to use a more calming and relaxed method of reducing their stress, such as yoga, reading, or enjoying the company of family and friends. Men, on the other hand are much more likely than women to take a much more aggressive approach to their stress reduction, such as playing sports.

There are biological reasons as to the difference in the responses between men and women in relation to stress. It has been said by Shelly Taylor, Ph.D., that women are more likely to "tend and befriend," trying to fit into a social group and nurturing offspring, when confronted with a stressful situation. Men are more likely to use a "fight or flight" response in their confrontations, an aggressive act of choosing either to escape the threatening situation or standing to confront it. According to a study done in 2008, when women are in a large amount of stress, there is an increase of blood activity in their limbic system which is responsible for emotional responses (Scott, 2012). This explains why women take the "tend and befriend" approach when dealing with a given situation. During that same study, it was found that men experience an increased activity in their right prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for decision making and muscle movement (Scott, 2012). This is why men are more prone to either choose "fight or flight" as their bodies are more ready for physical movement. Women also produce more oxytocin in their hypothalamus which is a hormone that relaxes the cortisol in the body, the hormone given off during stress.

The differences in stress reaction can also be looked at in an evolutionary perspective. It would be beneficial for women to take a more calming approach to handling their stress in order for the survival of the human rice in its origins. Speaking from an evolutionary perspective, if women were either pregnant or taking care of young children, it would be unwise for them to choose an aggressive approach to stressful situations for the safety of their children (Jackson, 2010). Men, however, can afford to be more aggressive or reckless in their decision making as their role in human reproduction and child raising has been historically less important and influential on the child than