Sex differences in reporting and rating of life events: A comparison of diabetic and healthy subjects

Investigation of differences in the perceived magnitude oflife events and in the reported experience of life events between men and women and between a chronically ill diabetic population and a control population of healthy subjects finds that both diabetic and healthy women rated life events as more upsetting and requiring more adjustment.

Abstract

Both diabetic and healthy women rated life events as more upsetting and requiring more adjustment than did the male groups of subjects. This sex difference was also apparent among the healthy subjects in the reported number of life events experienced. Diabetic women, on the other hand, did not differ from the men; they reported fewer experienced life events than the healthy women. The results are discussed in relation to other studies of sex differences in psychophysiological responses to stress. This paper discusses an investigation of differences in the perceived magnitude of life events and in the reported experience of life events between men and women and between a chronically ill diabetic population and a control population of healthy subjects.