My favorite quote of the week from a spokesperson for the American Psychological Association (APA):

“Taken together, these things often lead to more stress in women, because they just have more things to be stressed about.”

Wow, a deep insight there.

Sorry, but I couldn’t help myself. The comment is in reaction to a consumer survey conducted by the APA into how “stressed out” Americans are feeling (which seems apropos, given the economy, an election, a continuing war, etc.).

They survey found that women are under more stress, but the spokesperson admitted that “Women are sometimes more aware of the stress they are feeling,” suggesting there may have been a gender response bias to the survey (e.g., if we already know men are less likely to admit to feeling stressed, then we should be asking for questions that will get at the data from a different vantage point).

Oh, but wait, we actually find that both men and women are stressed out, just that women are slightly more so:

That’s not to say that men aren’t stressed out. Seventy-five percent of male respondents to the APA survey expressed fear about the economy, compared to 84 percent of women.

Good to know. Where would we be without such surveys to state the obvious?

Next you know, researchers will design surveys that ask people who spend a lot of time online whether they spend a lot of time online, and turn around and claim it’s some sort of problem or addiction. Oh wait…

Read the full article: Helping Women Manage Today’s Stress

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 4 Nov 2008