Role of gender in stress perception: Why women perceive and react more negatively to stress than men?

There is contemporary literature reporting the role of the neuroticism (N) personality type and gender in the stress process. Men and women show a different pattern in their resilience to stress and predisposition to stress related diseases. Dysregulation of the stress-hormone is linked with development, onset, and progression of psychological and physical disorders in both men and women. The influence of gender on stress perception and its resultant negative affect was explored by analyzing the data collected for a bigger study. In the original study, the mood of pre-screened college students (N=34, Females = 22, Males = 12), who scored high and low on the neuroticism subscale, was initially neutralized to their respective base level by using neutral pictorial stimuli. Later, their mood and stress perception were manipulated using a laboratory psycho-social stressor. In the end, their mood and stress perception were manipulated again through exposure to positive pictorial stimuli. The results indicated that the female group was generally more stressed and had higher negative affect throughout the study, as compared to the male group. Moreover, females reported significantly higher stress perception and negative affect during the stress task, than males. Females also reported a significantly higher stress perception, than males, even after they were exposed to positive stimuli. These results suggest that females, when compared to males, may be more sensitive to the negative stimuli but not equally responsive to the positive stimuli. Implications and limitations of the study will be discussed.