Gender differences

• Tend and befriend response in women

  -Fight or flight response is disadvantageous for females.

  -Confronting or fleeing from a predator would make the offspring in danger and harder to protect if it was in any danger.

  -A difference in responses to stressors has evolved in females which Taylor et al called the 'tend or befriend' response.

  -Tending -> protect, calm and nurturing offspring and blending in the environment rather than confronting the threat.

  -Befriend -> seeking support from social networks at times of stress in order to cope.
• Issues with fight or flight

  -typical response to acute stress is fight or flight.

  -Beta bias as it is an all male sample so can't be generalised to women and doesn't describe their stress response.

  -Minimises gender differences.
• Problem-focused methods of coping with stress

  -Applies to men

  -Reduce stress by tackling its root causes in a direct, practical and rational way.

  -Typically focuses on taking control to remove or escape from the stress and learning new skills such as time management.
• Emotion-focused methods of coping with stress


  -Applied to women

  -Reduces stress by indirectly tackling the anxiety associated with the stressor.

  -Includes various forms of avoidance, keeping busy by distractions.

  -Also possible to use cognitive appraisal to think about the stressor.
• Peterson et al -

  -Assessed the coping strategies in men and women who has being diagnosed with being infertile.

  -Used ways of coping questionnaire.

  -Found key gender differences: women were more likely to accept blame and avoidance tactics (emotion-focused). Men were more likely to use problem solving involved making plan.
• Hormones in gender differences in coping with stress:


  • Oxytocin is produced in both males and females. Oxytocin promotes feelings of bonding and affiliation. It has a role in the formation of attachment bond with PCG and infant.
  • In males, testosterone levels rise (which has a dampening effect on oxytocin), therefore, males become more aggressive and females seek closeness to others (because of unrepressed oxytocin).
  • It appears that female sex hormones like oestrogen increases effects of oxytocin but male hormones reduce them. Oxytocin has a stronger affect on women.
• Lewis and Linder

  -Found the befriending is selective.

  -Most people (females) in the study preferred to wait for support from other females rather than males when confronted with stressful situations.

  -Evolved as a mechanism for protecting females and their offspring's rather than against threatening males.
• Lucklow et al

  -Reviewed 26 studies of gender differences in 'seeking' and using social support as a way of coping with stress.

  -Women were much more likely to use these methods in the studies than men.

  -Suggesting women strongly favour befriending in stressful situations.