[Gender differences in stress among physicians]

It is difficult to evaluate gender differences in relation to health because occupation and position are different for males and females. It is therefore necessary to evaluate how health is affected for both genders with the same working conditions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate: 1) gender differences in relation to different stressors within daily life, working life and health, 2) how these stressors affect the correlation between stress and gender.

A questionnaire was sent out in 2001 to a total of 1414 physicians; 707 males and 707 females. The response rate was 58%. Using SPSS, the answers were reviewed by gender differences in relation to selected stressors in daily life, working life and health. Finally, a logistic regression was run where the correlation between gender and stress was controlled for all significant stressors.

It was found that female physicians more often experience stressors in relation to daily life and health while male physicians experience stressors in relation to their working life. It was also shown that female physicians had more than twice the risk of being stressed on a daily basis compared to male physicians, when controlling for cohabitant/spouse working hours, own working hours, conflicting demands at work, the feeling of never having enough time for oneself and depression.

Female physicians had more than twice the risk of being stressed on a daily basis compared to their male colleagues, in spite of control for stressors in relation to daily life, working life and health.