Life-stress and reactivity by gender in a longitudinal birth cohort at 30 and 35 years

• Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Vol. 51; no. 10; pp. 1385 - 1394
• Main Authors: McLeod, Geraldine F. H., Horwood, L. J., Fergusson, D. M., Boden, J. M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.10.2016; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis; Child abuse; Employment; Epidemiology; Female; Gender differences; Humans; Life Change Events; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental health; New Zealand - epidemiology; Original Paper; Pregnancy; Psychiatry; Sex Factors; Stress; Stress (Psychology); Stress, Psychological - epidemiology; Victimization; Womens health; New Zealand; Life-stress; Gender differences; Longitudinal; Reactivity; Life event; Responsivity
• ISSN: 0933-7954; 1433-9285
• DOI: 10.1007/s00127-016-1254-z

Purpose Previous literature has shown gender differences in reactivity to stressful life events. However, it is unclear whether gender differences in stress reactivity are consistent across a series of life event domains among longitudinal adult sample populations. Methods Data were gathered from the Christchurch Health and Development Study (CHDS). The CHDS is a longitudinal birth cohort of 1265 children born in 1977 in Christchurch, New Zealand. Cohort members were questioned on their experience of, and distress from, a series of life event domains (interpersonal problems; victimization; illness/death; pregnancy/parenthood; employment/finance problems) spanning two age-periods 25–30 years (data collected in 2007) and 30–35 years (data collected in 2012). The data were pooled across observations and analyzed using population-averaged repeated-measures regression methods. Results Overall, men and women reported experiencing similar numbers of life events for each domain. However, men reported more victimization and more employment/financial problems; women reported more illness/death events. Women reported experiencing more distress per life event for the domains of interpersonal problems, illness/death and pregnancy/parenthood. Men and women reported similar distress per life event for the victimization and employment/finance domains. The results were robust to control for: child and adolescent factors (childhood abuse exposure; adolescent personality; mental health) and adult factors (mental health; self-esteem). Conclusion These findings are consistent with a growing body of evidence indicating that some life events including interpersonal problems, illness/death and pregnancy/parenthood may be intrinsically more distressing for women. Detection of life event distress is important to aid in the prevention of mental/physical health problems.