Cigarette smoking is one (unhealthy) coping mechanism, because smoking can reduce discomfort. If men and women differ in what they view as stressful, smoking out of stress between them could vary. The same can be said about drug and alcohol use, as well as eating behavior. These differences are critical for understanding consequences of stress.



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Gender differences are differences between men and women that might be behavioral or biological, causing variation in health. These different behaviors include: stress response, environmental experiences, biological processes. Many researchers ascribe to differences in socialization, while others focus on a hormone or organ system.


Gender Differences

Baum, A., & Grunberg, N. E. (1991). Gender, Stress, and Health. Health Psychology, 10(2), 80–85. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-6133.10.2.80


Gender, stress, and health.

What men and women consider stressful varies, partially due to different socialization patterns, socially derived needs/roles, etc. This leads to differences in how they interpret what happens to them and how much stress is experienced. In other words, what is stressful to a woman might not cause the same stress to a man based on how he was socialized.


Gender Differences in Stress Approaches 

Gender Differences in Drug Use and "Unhealthy" Behaviors

Women have an elevated risk for autoimmune diseases and exhibit higher immunoglobulin levels than men. In addition, women's cell-mediated immune responses weaker than men's, and pregnancy reduces certain cellular functions. If immune function can be affected by, for example, sex hormones, then sex hormones are capable of affecting stress.


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