THE EFFECT OF GENDER ON THE STRESS PROCESS OF ISRAELI SOLDIERS DURING THE GULF-WAR

The study of differences in responses to stress of males and females requires controlling for objective threat or harm. This is very hard to accomplish in field studies because of the different roles of adult males and females. The present study examined this problem in 350 unmarried enlisted male and female soldiers during the Gulf War. The stress, perception of coping effectiveness and psychological distress of subjects were assessed by questionnaires. Results of the interpersonal analysis reveal that females assessed the situation as more stressful, perceived their coping as more effective, and suffered from greater psychological distress than males. The intrapersonal analysis revealed that: (a) stress had stronger negative impact on females than on males, and (b) in two of the five coping strategies, perception of coping effectiveness had less positive effect for females than for males.