How Gender Affects Stress Levels and Coping Styles

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How gender affects stress levels and coping styles Introduction Given the negative health implications associated with chronic stress (McKewan, 2005), understanding if and why the sexes differ in the way they experience and cope with stress provides important clues for individuals of either gender to adapt and achieve a better quality of life. Sulda, Shaunessey and Hardesty (2008) defined stress in psychological terms as the way an individual feels, thinks, behaves and physically responds to a perceived threat. Lazarus (1993) noted that stress has four elements; an internal or external cause, an appraisal, a coping mechanism and a physical and mental effect. Stressors are the internal or external causes of stress (Lazarus,1993). They can be life events, such as the loss of a spouse, catastrophes, such as a natural disaster, or ongoing daily problems. Chronic stress is more likely to be produced as the result of the daily hassles or the ongoing problems of daily life (Lazarus & Folkman, 1987; Matud, 2004). When faced with a stressor, an individual will either consciously or unconsciously make an appraisal to determine how they will be affected and identify type of stress they face; a current harm, a potential threat or a stressful challenge with potential benefits (Lazarus & Folkman, 1987). During a ‘secondary appraisal’ an individual will decide which coping mechanism to adopt. Coping is the way individuals respond to stress and, according to Lazarus and Folkman (1987) can be either problem-focused, trying to change a situation, or emotion-focused, trying to change the way a person feels or thinks about a situation. Carver, Scheier, and Weintraub (1989), felt the two categories of coping strategies were too simple and developed five more sub categories of emotion based and five sub categories of problem based

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