GENDER AS A MODERATOR OF THE RELATION BETWEEN RACE-RELATED STRESS AND MENTAL HEALTH SYMPTOMS FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS

The present study tested gender as a moderator of the relationship between race-related stress and mental health symptoms among African American adults. Because African American women are exposed to stressors associated with race and gender, we hypothesized that African American women would have higher levels of race-related stress and more severe mental health outcomes related to experiences of race-related stress compared to African American men. Multivariate analyses revealed that African American men had higher stress appraisals for institutional racism than did women. No significant gender differences were found for cultural and individual racism. Moderated regression analyses revealed that increases in stress appraisals for individual racism were associated with increases in anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms for African American women. Race-related stress had no significant effects on mental health symptoms for African American men. The findings suggest that gender is an important factor in determining the impact of race-related stress on mental health.     

Effect of Gender-Role Orientation of Primiparous Mothers on Their Cognitive Appraisals,Coping Strategies,and Mood Postpartum

Cognitive appraisals of mothering as a challenge and threat, coping strategies, affect balance, and depression were studied in 91 married gender-typed, cross-gender typed, and androgynous primiparous middle-class Israeli mothers of infants aged 3–5 months. The results indicated that gender-typed and androgynous women had significantly higher challenge scores and lower threat scores than did cross-gender typed women. With regard to coping strategies, gender-typed and androgynous women used more support-seeking than did cross-gender typed women. Gender-typed women also used less problem-focused strategy and more emotion-focused strategy than did cross-gender typed women. Gender-typed and androgynous women manifested more positive affect balance and less depression than did the cross-gender typed women.     

Gender, Appraisal, and Coping: A Longitudinal Analysis

ABSTRACT For 21 consecutive days, 186 male and female college students recalled the most stressful event of the day, recorded how the event was appraised, and indicated the coping methods they employed as well as their perceived effectiveness and the sequence in which they were used. Gender differences in seven coping strategies were examined in terms of frequency of use, extent of use, relative use, and the frequency with which each method was used first in the coping sequence. The gender differences that emerged were consistent with a socialization hypothesis that predicts more problem-focused coping in men and more use of support seeking and emotion-focused coping in women. Both men and women rated problem-focused coping responses as more generally effective than seeking social support, and the latter as more effective than emotion-focused coping responses. Additionally, we explored the roles of stressor type and of threat, challenge, and control appraisals in the observed gender differences.     

STRESS AMONG PALESTINIAN WOMEN UNDER MILITARY OCCUPATION; WOMEN'S APPRAISAL OF STRESSORS,THEIR COPING MODES,AND THEIR MENTAL HEALTH

Psychological responses and mental health of 174 Palestinian women living in the occupied West-Bank and the Gaza Strip were studied through a stress model. Thirty-five Palestinian women living in Israel proper who had not been exposed to military occupation were interviewed as a comparison group. The stress process studied consists of women's appraisal of threat and the importance of the stressors in their lives, the estimation of their own resources to cope with stress, actual coping modes, and mental health outcomes. Women living under military occupation tended to appraise their environment as highly threatening and their experiences as strain-producing. At the same time they believed they had sufficient assets, especially collective and ideological resources, to deal with the stressors. This tendency was particularly evident among victims of political violence. Women strongly exposed to hardships of military occupation tended to employ more social and political activity and less inactive and accommodative coping modes than did less traumatized women. Exposure to stressful events, characteristic to military occupation and armed conflict, tended to deteriorate women's mental health, as indicated by severe anxiety, depression, hostile feelings and psychiatric symptoms, and also deteriorating their general health. Multiple regression analysis of the data pertaining to the stress process indicated not only the existence of objective stressors but also the appraisal of their harmfulness, the coping modes as well as vulnerability-protective factors which determine the outcomes of the stress process. A good economic situation, sufficient social support, and religious commitment functioned as protective factors in stress process, i.e., they were able to diminish the impact of exposure to stressors on women's mental health. In the case of the Palestinian women the hardships due to military occupation and national struggle initiated a different stress process than did the daily life difficulties. This indicates that in studies on psychological functioning in a political and armed conflict, the collective level of coping, values, norms, ideology as well as the concrete political aims of the society should be included in analysis and interpretation.     

Coping, negative affectivity, and the work environment: additive and interactive predictors of mental health

The present study tested the hypothesis that direct coping would moderate relations between work stress and mental health outcome, whereas suppression (a form of emotion-focused coping) would show an overall effect on outcome. Data on coping, perceived work demand and support, and affective symptoms were obtained from trainee teachers (N = 157). The results supported the hypothesis. Gender differences also were observed; men reported more use of suppression than did women. In addition, negative affectivity (NA) was examined as a confounding variable and as an index of reactivity in stress-outcome relations. NA acted to inflate associations between work perceptions and affective symptoms, but it was also a significant moderator variable; high NA subjects showed greater reactivity to work demand than did low NA subjects.     

Ethnic differences in battered women's formal help-seeking strategies: a focus on health, mental health, and spirituality

The primary goal of this study was to identify ethnic differences in battered women's use of health, mental health, and spiritual coping strategies, as well as differences in the perceived helpfulness of each strategy. The authors recruited a sample of 376 African American and Caucasian victims of interpersonal violence from various sites. In comparison with Caucasian women in the sample, African American women were significantly more likely to report using prayer as a coping strategy and significantly less likely to seek help from mental health counselors. The 2 groups did not significantly differ in terms of the extent to which they sought help from clergy or medical professionals. African American women found prayer to be more helpful than did Caucasian women.     

Individual differences in responses to workplace stress: the contribution of attachment theory

Work stress is a major cause of physical and psychological distress, and both theory and research highlight the importance of individual differences in coping efforts. The present research clarifies the mechanisms linking attachment insecurities (anxiety and avoidance) to maladaptive coping; specifically, we tested an integrative model assessing stress appraisals as a mediator between attachment insecurities and coping strategies, together with mediating and moderating effects of coping resources (perceived self‐efficacy and social support). A community sample of 113 men and 115 women completed an online survey which incorporated a standardized vignette depicting workplace stress. The results supported stress appraisal as a mediator between attachment anxiety and less adaptive coping, and established both mediating and moderating effects of perceived coping resources. The effects support the relevance of attachment theory to the study of workplace stress.     

Differential reactions of men and women to realism,physical damage,and emotionality in violent films

Community college students rated brief segments of violence from films selected to represent a variety of approaches to the depiction of violence. Men and women differed substantially on these sequences, men seeing them as more enjoyable, amusing, realistic, and emotional. Men also showed less inclination to restrict showing of such sequences to children, on television, or by X-rating. While no sex differences appeared in ratings of suffering or overall appraisals of violence, women' enjoyment ratings declined precipitously for the films rated as depicting more suffering, while those of men did not. However, both men and women saw more violence in sequences emphasizing suffering of characters, even when this ran counter to actual physical damage depicted. For men, enjoyment of these violent media excerpts and self-reports of recent physical violence were essentially unrelated, while women showed highly significant positive relations for the two variables. These findings suggest that the dynamics of violence for men and women may be different enough to make differential analysis by sex an especially productive research tactic.     

Coping with Missile Attack: Resources, Strategies, and Outcomes

ABSTRACT The coping process was examined in a group of Israeli subjects experiencing SCUD missile attacks during the Persian Gulf War. We were interested in examining the relationship of coping resources, optimism, perceived control, and coping strategies, to anxiety, to physical symptoms, and to cognitive functioning during a real crisis. Data were gathered via structured questionnaires in the midst of the Persian Gulf War (February 1991) on a sample of 261 adult respondents residing in northern Israel. Although people reported a mixture of palliative and active coping strategies, it was the use of palliative coping efforts that predicted greater anxiety and physical symptoms. Subjects with greater coping resources used more palliative and active coping strategies and had higher cognitive functioning. However, active coping did not predict any of the negative stress reactions (i.e., anxiety and physical symptoms). People who perceived being in control of the situation reported using less palliative coping and fewer symptoms. That active coping did not predict negative stress reactions may have been a function of the severity of the stressor, and the resultant high levels of anxiety that were engendered. Overall, these findings do point to a different coping process in a grave and ongoing disaster situation than that reported in reaction to more normal life events.     

Coping strategies and leadership in the adaptation to social change: The Israeli Kibbutz

This research assessed adaptation to community change in the Israeli kibbutz. A sample of 270 kibbutz members provided self-reports on their perception of the leaders of the change, change appraisals, coping strategies, and assessment of change outcomes. The main results showed that the perception of transformational leadership was negatively related to threat/loss and positively related to challenge/controllability appraisals; challenge/controllability appraisals were related positively to problem-focused coping and positive affect, whereas threat/loss appraisals were related positively to emotion-focused coping and negative affect. The findings contribute to an understanding of the stress and coping processes during a major change in a communal way of life, and underline the importance of leadership perception as a resource that contributes to better adaptation.     

Perceived level of stress among university undergraduate students in Edmonton, Canada.

A sample of 457 (177 men, 280 women) undergraduate students were surveyed regarding perceived level of stress. Women were more likely than men to report an unacceptable stress level. To reduce stress, women were more likely to indicate a need to limit commitments, exercise, and worry less. Reasons for not reducing stress were lack of time and lack of self-discipline, both of which were reported significantly more often by women. The present data suggest health education interventions are needed to assist students in coping with the stress they experience.     

Why do Women get Depressed and Men get Drunk? An Examination of Attributional Style and Coping Style in Response to Negative Life Events Among Canadian Young Adults

Gender differences in alcohol consumption and depressive symptoms are well known. This study focused on the associations of gender with attributional style, coping style, and negative life events in explaining these differences. The association of gender with each of the predictor and outcome variables was examined. One hundred eight (51 men, 57 women) undergraduate university students, ages 18–21, completed validated measures of depression, alcohol consumption, attributional style, coping style, and negative life events. Participants reported mild-moderate levels of depressive symptoms, similar to comparable samples. In contrast, alcohol consumption was lower than expected. Depressive symptoms were associated with negative events and rumination among both men and women. Pessimism and wine consumption were correlated with depression among women only. Although men consumed more alcohol than did women, a gender difference in depressive symptoms was not found. Potential implications of these findings are discussed.     

An Interactional Perspective on Coping with Intimate Partner Violence: Counterattack,Call for Help,or Give in and Obey Him?

This research reports on an investigation of if and how help-seeking women perceived that they had coped in intimate partner violence situations. Within a cross-sectional design, a representative sample of 157 help-seeking women in Norway was interviewed. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted. Results indicated that exposure to psychological, physical, and sexual intimate partner violence, respectively, did elicit different coping strategies in one and the same woman. There were also significant differences between women who perceived they had effective coping strategies and those who did not. This research suggests that a multivariate design within an interactional perspective could inform and enhance our understanding of coping strategies in intimate partner violence situations as complex, heterogeneous, and dynamic phenomena.     

Coping Responses and the Experience of Discrimination1

This study examines the coping responses of individuals reporting experiences of racial/ethnic discrimination (N=156). Racial/ethnic differences in contextual appraisals and coping strategies were reported in response to discrimination. African and Asian American participants reporting experiences of discrimination were more likely to perceive the situation as a challenge. African Americans reporting experiences of discrimination were more likely to report seeking support and guidance when compared to Asian and European Americans. Contextual appraisals did not predict the use of coping strategies in response to experiences of discrimination. Emotional discharge and past experiences of discrimination were positively associated with re‐experiencing symptoms. Cognitive avoidance coping strategies were associated with avoidance symptoms. Clinical implications of the findings are explored.     

Interactive Effects of Caffeine Consumption and Stressful Circumstances on Components of Stress: Caffeine Makes Men Less,But Women More Effective as Partners Under Stress

We tested whether increased caffeine consumption exacerbates stress and disrupts team performance, and we explored whether “tend and befriend” characterizes women's coping. We gave decaffeinated coffees, half of which contained added caffeine, to coffee drinkers in same‐sex, same‐aged dyads. We measured individual cognitive appraisals, emotional feelings, bodily symptoms, coping, and performance evaluations, together with dyad memory, psychomotor performance, and negotiation skills under higher or lower stressful conditions. Evidence consistent with the first hypothesis was weak, but we found that women performed better than did men on collaborative tasks under stress, provided caffeine had been consumed. The usefulness of multi component, cognitive‐relational approaches to studying the effects of caffeine on stress is discussed, together with special implications of the effects for men.     

Stress,self-esteem,and mental health: How does gender make a difference?

Questionnaire responses of 804 women and 127 men were compared to assess sex differences in college students' stress levels and reactions to stress, and the extent to which their self-esteem, interpersonal self-confidence, and self-concepts are associated with their experiences with stress. The men and women reported similar stress levels in most areas of life, but the women reported greater stress regarding family relationships and concern about their mental health. The women reported that when they are under stress, they experience more symptoms of depression and anxiety, and are more likely to express their anger and feelings, whereas the men reported that they become more active in response to stress. For both men and women, levels of stress and reactions to stress were associated with self-esteem, interpersonal self-confidence, and self-concepts. The results indicate that sex differences in dysfunctional reactions to stress can be explained by sex differences in self-concept more persuasively than can differences in areas of stress.The author wishes to thank the presidents of the seven colleges for their support and encouragement; the Seven College Study Advisory Board, campus coordinators, and staff for their contributions; and the students for their interest and participation. The author also expresses her appreciation for the support of the Henry A. Murray Research Center of Radcliffe College. This research was supported in part by a grant from the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.     

Gender Disparities in the Mental Health of Urban Survivors of Trauma

Women who experience traumatic events are at higher risk for mental health problems compared to men; however, gaps remain in our understanding of this disparity. A sample of 170 urban adults completed self-report measures. Women were significantly more likely to experience sexual assault and domestic violence compared to men, and they were significantly less likely to experience a robbery or mugging, being threatened with a weapon, or witnessing a death or assault compared to men. Also, women were more likely than men to meet criteria for probable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression after controlling for covariates and trauma level. Our findings suggest a possible differential vulnerability to the development of PTSD and depressive symptoms in women.     

Emotional Constriction and Risk for Posttraumatic Stress: The Roles of Trauma History and Gender

Research suggests there are qualitative differences in emotionality across gender, with men being more emotionally constrictive than women. Constrictive emotionality has consistently been linked to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and because men are generally more emotionally constrictive, one could infer they are at increased risk for PTSD. However, research demonstrates that twice as many women are diagnosed with PTSD than men. In an undergraduate sample, men reported significantly greater emotional constriction, but significantly less posttraumatic stress severity in comparison to women. The gender differences in emotional constriction disappeared in a subsample of students who endorsed experiencing an upsetting event. Emotional constriction mediated the relationship between trauma and posttraumatic stress severity, although it was a stronger mediator for women than men.     

Nonwork-to-work spillover: A more balanced view of the experiences and coping of professional women and men

A more balanced view of nonwork-to-work spillover was advanced here. The concentration of research on the negative side may serve to support some damaging assumptions about professional women. A sample of 221 experienced managers indicated how parenting, community work, and recreation affected work both positively and negatively, and the extent they used certain coping strategies. Women comprised 35% of the sample and ethnic minorities comprised 18%. The managers agreed more strongly with statements about positive nonwork-to-work spillover than with those about the negative side. Women and men reported largely the same levels of nonwork involvement, time commitment, satisfaction, positive spillover, and use of the coping strategies. Compared to men, women did report lower negative spillover overall, and greater use of the strategies when they were parents. The findings suggest that employers should be less concerned with how active women are in nonwork, and more concerned with how well both men and women manage their various life domains.     

Ethnic and Gender Differences in Distress Among Anglo American, African American, Japanese American, and Mexican American Spousal Caregivers of Persons with Dementia

Distress, coping, and social resources were compared in a sample of 202 Japanese-, Anglo-, African-, and Mexican American spousal caregivers of persons with dementia using a Stress-Coping model. Both ethnicity and gender showed differential effects on the outcome and on the moderating variables. Female caregivers in all ethnic groups reported significantly higher levels of psychiatric symptomatology. All 4 ethnic groups reported high rates of psychological distress, with Mexican Americans reporting significantly higher rates of depression than Anglo or African Americans. Ethnicity was related to (1) the kind of caregiving appraisals (spiritual, pessimistic, and lack of support), (2) coping styles (escape-avoidance and seeking social support), and (3) social support. African Americans were more likely to be spiritual appraisers, to have more positive appraisals, and to have more social support available to them. Gender differences were evident on 4 out of the 6 caregiver appraisals, but none of the coping styles. Although males tended to have more perfectionistic appraisals, they were also more likely to view caregiving with a less negative and more self-efficacious outlook.