Recent life events and accidents: the role of sex differences

In order to investigate how gender may moderate the manner in which life change affects behavior, 110 men and 54 women who had had industrial accidents were interviewed to assess what life change events they had experienced during the years before and after their injuries. For both sexes, increases in life events and associated stress had occurred prior to their accidents. Females reported higher levels of work-related events two years pre-accident, whereas men experienced a sharp increase in work events one year pre-accident. Post-accident, both males and females reported the greatest number of live changes with men experiencing more medical sequelae and women more separations from spouses and resumption of school. Results are discussed in terms of the possible effects of changing social and sex role expectations.