Men Less Stressed Than Women By Traumatic Life Events, Including Divorce And Sickness, According To Study
Ladies, there is one thing guys do better: stress less. According to new research, there’s a difference in how the genders cope with difficult events, like losing a loved one or getting sick. The authors don't have an answer as to why men worry less, though women have been asking this question for a long time.
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For the study, 2,000 British adults were asked to rate the stress levels of 18 life events, which were measured on a scale between one and 10. Most respondents found the death of a relative or friend the most stressful, with a score of 9.43, followed by imprisonment (9.15) and home damage (8.89).
In every scenario, men were more chill than women. On average, females ranked these events as .56 points higher. The one exception? The threat of terrorist attacks, which women gave 1.25 more stress points than men.
The report indicates that there were also differences in what younger and older people found worrisome. Losing a smartphone causes more panic in the 18 to 34 crowd than the 55 and older folks. For this older age group, long-term problems like illnesses were bigger points of stress.
Divorce came in sixth, which is three spots lower than its rank in a different study conducted in 1967 that this new research is based on. “This may reflect the more permissive attitude to divorce in the modern world; it will undoubtedly be stressful but is far less likely to make you a pariah,” the report authors write.
In 1962, the United States divorce rate was about 2.2 per 1,000 people. However, it quickly rose following the introduction of no-fault divorce laws in 1967 and doubled by 1973. Currently, the divorce rate is 3.2 per 1,000 of the population.
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One thing that can really impact stress levels? Another person's anxiety, as one respondent says that he’s usually stressed when “dealing with my wife’s anxiety and stress (in any of these situations.)”
The study was conducted by the The Physiological Society in London using a polling service to garner responses.
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