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The weaker sex? Gender and post‐traumatic stress disorder
Author(s) -
Gavranidou Maria,
Rosner Rita
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
depression and anxiety
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.634
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1520-6394
pISSN - 1091-4269
DOI - 10.1002/da.10103
Subject(s) - traumatic stress , psychology , clinical psychology , sexual abuse , vulnerability (computing) , psychiatry , coping (psychology) , injury prevention , poison control , medicine , medical emergency , computer security , computer science
Abstract We discuss the gender‐specific differences for traumatic events and Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as found in the epidemiological literature. Recent research literature consistently reports three interesting findings: 1) men experience traumatic events more often, 2) women and men differ in the type of traumatic experiences they experience, and 3) women more often develop PTSD after the experience of a traumatic event. In the second part of the present article we provide some explanations for these differences. The reported higher vulnerability of women for PTSD could be due to the methodology used, the higher prevalence of childhood sexual abuse and rape in women, the different coping styles of women and men, or the more limited socio‐economic resources of women. Depression and Anxiety 17:130–139, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.