Joana Katter

1
Gender differences in the relation between domain
specific stress and social support from various
sources

• Joana Katter
• York University
• Toronto, Canada
• Presented at Health Psychology Lecture
• November 3rd, 2009

2
Stress and Social Support

• People who have strong intimate links to others
  have better mental and physical health.
• Emotional support is particularly effective in
  reducing stress and anxiety.
• Student stress has health and academic
  consequences.

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Gender

• Socio-cultural construct
• Roles, behaviours, attributes and activities a
  particular society deems appropriate for men and
  women.
• Gender is related to
• Stressors an individual experiences
• The amount, type and sources of social support
  sought

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Purpose

• Explore gender differences in
• Domain specific student stress
• Social Support from multiple sources
• Association between student stress and social
  support
• Factor analysis of the Brief College Student
  Hassle Scale

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Participants

• 150 First Year University Students
• 125 female, 25 male
• Mean age 18.8
• Measures
• Brief College Student Hassle Scale
• Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social
  Support

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Emotional Support

• Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social
  Support (Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, Farley, 1988).
• 12-item measure (7 point scale)
• There is a special person who is around when I
  am in need.
• I have friends with whom I can share my joys and
  sorrows.
• Alpha .88

7
Student Stress

• The Brief College Hassles Scale (Blankstein,
  Flett, Koledin, 1991).
• 20-item measure, spanning 9 different domains
• 7-point scale
• Items include academic deadlines, future job
  perspectives, and relationships with family
  members.
• Alpha .81

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Factor Analysis of Brief College Student Hassles
Scale
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Factor Summary

• Academic
• Program Requirements, Job Prospects
• Family
• Relationship with parents, family expectations
• Financial
• Financial Security, Owing Money
• Romantic
• Relationship with boyfriend/girlfriend
• Work
• Job Satisfaction
• Housekeeping
• Household/dorm chores

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Gender Differences in Student Stress

- p lt .05
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Gender Differences in Perceived Emotional Support

- p lt .05
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Association between sources of social support

• Men
• No correlation between social support from
  different sources
• Women
• Correlations between family support and Support
  from friends (r .311), and family support and
  support from significant others (r .328)
• Correlation between support from friends and
  support from significant others (r .340)

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Association between Stress and Social Support

• Men
• Emotional support from friends and work hassles (
  r -.408)
• Women
• Emotional support from family and family hassles
  (r -.185)
• Emotional support from significant others and
  romantic Hassles (r .182)

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Limitations and Future Directions

• Unequal gender distribution
• Only one type of social support assessed
• Correlational Design
• Factor Analysis
• Small Sample
• Need for a confirmatory factor analysis

15
Acknowledgements

• Esther Greenglass
• Linda Cheng
• Noelia Vasquez
• Statistical Consulting Service

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Thank You!

• Joana Katter
• katterjo_at_yorku.ca