Stress Levels in Women © Maureen Fleury
Sep 21, 1999
I recently read a newspaper article about a study done by
a marketing research firm Roper Starch Worldwide who surveyed
men and women on stress. The conclusion was that women around
the world, especially mothers, are more likely than men to say
they feel stressed.
To break it down even finer:
For married and widowed women, the figures are 21% (for married men the outcome was 17% and widowed men was 10%)
Separated or divorced women show the highest at 28% (men were 20%))
Common law relationships show higher than married with 24% for women and 19% for men
The lowest rates of stress among women were teens (14%) and those without kids (17%)
They took the results even further to report that 24% of full-time working mothers with children under 13 feel some type of stress almost every day.
The specific causes of stress were not reported in the survey, but the researchers said that family, work, and money are the most common complaints. I don't think any of us are surprised at this. In my opinion, there is more. What about health issues or cars/appliances that don't work?
What does all this mean?
In general, women do feel more stress than men. Is it because we allow adversities to get under our skin? Are we more aware of what's going on? Were women more truthful in the survey?
Although I sometime lose sight of it, one rule I try to live by is "accept the things I cannot change and change the things I cannot accept." My problem is making a decision to "accept" or "change." It can lead to more intense process of weighing the pros and cons. Sometimes it's a matter of timing. Can I afford to make changes? Another problem is learning how to accept.
I don't think any of us have stress-free lives. It sometimes feels like we just get over one hurdle and another one
appears. I guess it's all part of life. How to cope is what we have to work on.
In future articles, I will be looking at ways of coping with stress.
Go To Page:
1
The copyright of the article Stress Levels in Women in Tips for Working Mothers is owned by Maureen Fleury. Permission to republish Stress Levels in Women in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
|
