Stress-Gender and Social Support

Question 1

What did Taylor (2000) suggest about differences between men and women?

Answer 1

• They have completely different stress responses
• Consequence of evolutionary history, males respond to stress through aggression or denial; known as FoF- women produce calmer response
• Females deal with stress by acknowledging and discussing with others ‘tend and befriend’

Question 2

What is released during ‘tend and befriend’?

Answer 2

Oxytocin

Question 3

What is oxytocin?

Answer 3

A ‘love and relationship’ hormone which counteracts the effects of stress and so women may be better protected from stress than men

Question 4

Why do males not go through ‘tend and befriend’?

Answer 4

In males testosterone rises which has a dampening effect on oxytocin hence men may not tend and befriend but become more aggressive

Question 5

What did Lazarus and Folkman (1984) suggest there was in terms of coping responses?

Answer 5

• Emotion-focused; coping involves trying to reduce negative emotional responses associated with stress such as fear, anxiety, depression, embarrassment etc.
• Problem-focused; coping targets the causes of stress in practical ways which tackles the problem or stressful situation that is causing stress, consequently directly reducing the stress

Question 6

What did Matud (2004) find supporting these coping responses?

Answer 6

-3000 males and females in Spain; men rated work, relationships and finance as most stressful requiring problem-focused approach whereas females found family and health stressful, requiring a more emotion-focused approach

Question 7

What has gender socialization led to?

Answer 7

Women engaging in fewer unhealthy behaviours and so more healthy behaviours, e.g. less risk-taking behaviour; women lead healthier lifestyles, as men are more likely to drink e.g. going to the pub increasing stress

Question 8

What did Waxler-Morrison find (2006) that shows social support helps reduce stress

Answer 8

Found women with strong social relationships were more likely to survive breast cancer

Question 9

Types of social support:

Answer 9

Emotional-expressions of empathy, love, trust and caring e.g. close friends and family members provide hope and a listening ear raising the person’s sense of self-esteem helping them cope with the situation

Instrumental-Tangible aid and service
e.g. her husband decides to work from home 2 days per week to babysit the children whilst she attends her chemotherapy or lending money to someone who has lost their job

Esteem/Appraisal-Information that is useful for self-evaluation
e.g. a support group or talking with others in a similar situation to remind someone of all of the qualities that equip them to ‘beat’ breast cancer