Work Stress and Gender: Implications for Health and Well-being.

This chapter starts with a brief review of research concerning work stress, coping, gender, and health. We also present results from a study which is part of a larger ongoing project: Collective stress and coping at work from a gender perspective. The study puts forth a complementary approach to the individualistic perspective by viewing coping as both an individual and a collective phenomenon. The aim of the study was to investigate the link between health problems and the collective and individualistic coping strategies among women and men in managerial and non-managerial positions in the organization. An internet-based questionnaire was sent to 1345 female and male employees at both managerial and non-managerial levels working in a Swedish telecom company (the response rate 71%.). The results showed that the individualistic coping strategies were not beneficial for either women’s or men’s health at the managerial level. Among the non-managers, one individualistic strategy, positive reinterpretation and growth, was linked to fewer health problems for both women and men. The collective strategies were associated with perceived health problems only among the females, both managers and non-managers. One strategy, seeking instrumental social support, was beneficial and one strategy, social joining, was maladaptive.