Stress and Gender Differences

In addition to personality characterisitics, there are some fairly typical gender differences in the way young men and women respond to stress.
Reportedly, boys suddenly become "vanishing experts" around the house. They spend a lot of time away from home with their peers, "hanging around the neighborhood." They are extremely reluctant to state where, with whom, or when they will likely return. In order to avoid messy conflicts with parents, they say "yes" to requests, but simply avoid fulfilling the request.
They are found to be less verbal and more physical in their response to stress than girls. Their physical expression can be either active, throwing things or putting a fist through a wall, or passive by becoming a slug in front of the TV.

In contrast, girls are often more verbal in dealing with stress. At home, they may engage in non-stop verbal sparring with siblings or parents. They can adopt "sneaky and lying" behaviors and spend more time manipulating friends and family in an effort to boost their self-esteem or status. They tend to be more aware of subtle changes in relationships, and more vocal in expressing insecurity, jealousy, and competitiveness. This description fits the female teenager who is overt in responding to stress. There is also a flip side, the passive female who holds all her feelings inside and attempts to keep a very controlled image on the surface.

Stess

Do you deal with teenagers? Have you noticed how they deal with stress? Here are some typical teenage reactions to stress. Information is taken from Fighting Invisible Tigers by Connie C. Schmitz, Ph.D with Earl Hipp.

Basically teenagers respond to stress in ways that are consistent with their personalities. Some are active in their expression of stress while others take a passive route. The symptoms they express are not too different than symptoms adult express. Teen's manner of coping mirrors that of parents and other family members.

Some signs may include:

• general irritability, arguing about everything, however minor
• regressive or immature behavior; they want their own way, they want it now; can't tolerate change from routine
• obsession with external appearances and material goods; lots of time spent looking right
• school phobia; avoiding school work; sudden drop in school performance
• secretiveness; lying about whereabouts
• chronic dissatisfaction, nothing is good enough
• loss of interest or pleasure in things
• excessive sleeping
• difficulty concentrating
• frequent crying spells
• significant change in eating habits
• frequent colds, flu, or other communicable diseases
  
• withdrawal; spending a lot of time alone; saying "no: to invitations from friends
  
• escapist behaviors (e.g. excessive TV watching)