Men and women responded to the pandemic differently

01.08.2023 12:21

Women and men react differently to stress and stress. This is shown by a study from the first year of the corona pandemic. A team from Würzburg University Medicine is responsible for this.

Does anyone remember the first phase of the corona pandemic in 2020? When shops, restaurants, cinemas and theaters remained closed. When meetings with friends and relatives were prohibited. When school lessons were moved to the children's room at home. When traveling was unthinkable.

It currently looks as if this time has long been forgotten by most people. The various Corona measures taken by politicians may have caused enormous stress for many. The fear about the job, the worry about sick relatives, the nervous strain when parents and children sit together in a small apartment and have to juggle home office and homeschooling: all of this has not been without impact, as numerous studies show.

Fear is the central factor

A research team from Würzburg University Medicine investigated the extent to which these experiences affected the mental health and quality of life of women and men in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. Specifically, the scientists were interested in the relationship between worries about the workplace and other people with their own psychological problems such as anxiety and depression and the quality of life in general, what influence support from friends or at work has on this - and whether there are differences between men and women.

Clear result: In this network of different variables and influencing factors, fear is absolutely at the center. However, there are clear gender-specific differences: “For men, anxiety increases with concern about the job; this effect is not found for women. “We were able to register an increase in anxiety levels in women alongside an increase in worries about family and friends,” says Grit Hein. In addition, the study shows that women respond positively to the support of friends and family in such times by experiencing an increase in their quality of life. This phenomenon was not evident in men.

Data on the influence of gender were missing

Grit Hein is Professor of Translational Social Neuroscience at the Clinic and Polyclinic for Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy at the Würzburg University Hospital. Together with her postdoc Martin Weiß, she led the study, the results of which have now been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

“In the past, numerous studies have examined the influence of psychosocial factors such as support from friends and colleagues and financial, professional or personal concerns on mental health and quality of life. However, there was a lack of data as to whether these connections are the same for men and women,” explains Grit Hein, explaining the background to the study. In an extension of previous studies, the Würzburg research team has now examined the influence of these factors depending on gender.

Study with around 2,900 participants

The team received the relevant information from a large group of test subjects: the participants in the so-called STAAB study. This includes a cohort of around 5,000 randomly selected volunteers from the general population of Würzburg and actually focuses on the development of cardiovascular diseases. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the program was spontaneously expanded to cover the psychosocial effects of the pandemic, lockdown and other side effects.

A total of 2,890 people, 1,520 women and 1,370 men, took part in the survey. Their ages ranged from 34 to 85 years, the average age was 60 years. They had to fill out an extensive questionnaire about their psychological well-being between June and October 2020. Among other things, they were asked to provide information about how supported they felt by their social environment, their colleagues and superiors and whether they had someone with whom they could discuss their problems. They were also asked to what extent bans on contact with parents and grandparents affected them and how much stress they had at work or at school. Financial problems or concerns about them were the subject of further questions.

When evaluating the data, Hein and her team used a special method: so-called network analysis. “Analysis based on a network approach enables a graphical representation of all variables as individual nodes,” explains Hein. In this way it is possible to identify variables that are particularly linked to other variables. The network could, for example, show complex relationships between symptoms of different mental disorders and thus explain possible comorbidities.

Results fit traditional gender norms

Grit Hein and Martin Weiß were not really surprised by the results. “The observation that men are more associated with work and women are more closely associated with family and friends can be attributed to traditional gender norms and roles,” explains Hein. Accordingly, men generally feel more affected by job insecurity and unemployment, which leads to greater psychological stress. Women, on the other hand, experience greater stress if they feel like they are neglecting their family.

It is also obvious that women do better psychologically when they receive support from friends and family: “This is in line with the traditional female family role, which includes a greater tendency to have close social contacts and to seek social support Reduce stress and increase well-being,” says Hein.

Even if these results are clear, those responsible point out a number of limitations. The most important of these: “Since the Covid-19 pandemic represented a very specific context, it still needs to be clarified whether our results can be transferred to general pandemic-independent situations.” However, one finding is indisputable: “Our results underline how important it is “To take social aspects into account in therapeutic measures in order to improve the mental health of women and men.”

Original publication

Weiß, M., Gründahl, M., Deckert, J. et al. Differential network interactions between psychosocial factors, mental health, and health-related quality of life in women and men. Scientific Reports 13, 11642 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-38525-8