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We explored the gender differences in stress-related responses through a situational questionnaire. Our
results suggest that females are more likely to choose tend and befriend responses at higher rates and men
Abstract
While the fight or flight stress response is an adaptive behavioral strategy for men, it is not an
adaptive behavioral strategy for women due to women’s smaller size and investment in offspring. We
sought to replicate that women do in fact tend to have a different behavioral stress response than men. Our
survey was modeled after Turton & Campbell (2007), in which 3 stressful situations were presented to
participants with 4 answer choices corresponding to tend, befriend, fight, and flight behavioral stress
responses. The survey was administered to 64 participants (32 = women), and the data was analyzed for
the frequency of tend and befriend response choices for men and women. Our results showed that women
chose the tend and befriend options at a higher rate than men, and men chose the fight or flight option at a
higher rate than women. This pattern of results shows that men and women have different behavioral
responses under stress, which has huge implications for research and clinical interventions centering
around stress. Most psychological treatments for anxiety and stressor related disorders are uniform for
both men and women, but this pattern of results suggests that different treatments may be more successful
Until recent history, science has been a male-only enterprise in which men determined the
relevant questions to study, comprised of most of the study subjects, and interpreted research results. As
recently as 2000, UCLA psychologist Dr. Shelley Taylor and colleagues introduced a female specific
biopsychological theory that challenged the widely accepted fight or flight model of stress introduced 70
years prior (Taylor et al., 2000). Her theory is based on the evolutionary logic that for women, a fight or
flight behavioral stress response would not always be possible due to females smaller size and greater
investment in offspring (Taylor et al., 2000). The theory proposes that women evolved a tend and befriend
stress response due to the attachment-caregiving system (Taylor et al., 2000). Tending includes nurturing
activities that protect the self and offspring, reduce distress, and increase safety while befriending
involves building and preserving social networks to help these processes (Taylor et al., 2000). We sought
to determine whether there is a difference in men and women’s behavioral response choices in stressful
situations. We hypothesize that when men and women are given stressful situations and 4 answer choices
corresponding with tend, befriend, fight, and flight, women will tend to choose a tend and befriend option
more than men. Our study and hypothesis is modeled after another study using similar methods, which
found that women did in fact tend to have a tend and befriend behavioral stress response much more than
In order to test our hypothesis, we created survey questions replicating that of Turton & Campbell
(2005), with 3 stressful situations and 4 behavioral response choices that correspond to a tend, befriend,
fight, or flight response in random order (see Pyke et al., 2018). Then, we distributed a survey around the
UW campus for three days, and we observed the patterns of the answers throughout male and female
participants monitoring whether there was a difference in stress response choice by gender. We found an
average response choice for each participant based on their 3 answer choices, and analyzed the frequency
of tend and befriend versus fight and flight averages by gender. We hypothesized that women have a
“tend and befriend” stress response as opposed to a “fight or flight” stress response, meaning our
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predicted results will show women will tend to choose “tend and befriend” answer choices while men will
tend to choose “fight or flight” responses (Figure 1). If our hypothesis is wrong and there is no significant
correlation between the gender and the stress response, then there would be no difference between men
and women in tend and befriend versus fight or flight answer choices (Figure 2).
Given a total of 68 participants (50% of which are female), the actual results indicate that females
are more likely to act on a tend or befriend response rather than the traditional flight or fight response
(Figure 4). Each participant was assigned a primary stress response, either tend and befriend or fight or
flight, based on their responses to the 3 situations (in other words, each participant’s average). More
females than males were associated with tend and befriend responses, and more males than females were
associated with fight or flight responses (Table 2). Thus, the hypothesis matches with the actual results.
These results suggest that females may be more perceptive of how relationships and social networks are
influenced by the implications of high-stakes decisions. However, we cannot draw too strong of a
conclusion because the results indicate that men and women both chose the tend and befriend option more
than half the time (Table 2). Additionally, the results indicate that males do not rely solely on fight or
flight responses and, in fact, do choose tend or befriend responses given certain stressful situations
(Figures 4 and 5). Therefore, females may turn to tend or befriend responses at a higher rate than males.
One key weakness of our study is that most participants in our survey were college students.
Therefore, we wonder if there is a generational difference that influences the likelihood of males and
females to choose tend and befriend responses during high-stakes situations. A potential design for a
study could be to randomly select 50 females and 50 males who are between the ages of 60 and 70. We
would present each with the same questionnaire presented in this study. We hypothesize that males in the
older age sample will choose the tend and befriend option at a lower rate than the young men in our study.
Should the hypothesis hold true, the predominant stress response for males should be higher for fight or
Figure 1:
Figure 2:
choices.
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ACTUAL RESULTS
* All 68 participants (34 of each gender) had the choice to select a response for three questions.
Therefore, the sample size is equal to 102 for the purpose of this particular data visualization.
Tend 17 16 1
Befriend 4 2 2
T/B** 9 4 5
TOTAL 30 22 8
Fight 0 4 -4
Flight 2 3 -1
F/F*** 2 5 -3
TOTAL 4 12 -8
** Tie between Tend or Befriend
*** Tie between Fight or Flight
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Figure 3: Actual Results for Our Replication Study: For each given participant, the predominant
behavioral response associated with answers to questionnaire. Women chose tend and befriend more often
than men, and men chose fight and flight options more than women.
Figure 4: Tend and Befriend Response Choices by Gender: Among all participants, the number of
responses associated with tend or befriend chosen in the questionnaire. Women tended to choose more
Figure 5: Fight and Flight Response Choices By Gender: Among all participants, the number of responses
associated with fight or flight chosen in the questionnaire. Men tended to choose more fight or flight
options.
Figure 6: Predicted Results if the Hypothesis is Correct: We predict that there is a generational difference,
and that older men will chose fight and flight responses at a higher rate than younger men, and will
Works Cited
Pyke, M. K., Woodard, G. S., & An, H. (2018) Anxiety-Induced Responses and Habits Survey.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/123r_FPskGUx1kbbLk8xGYFSoJ9H_NDsIL5KP5nJzEGY/edit
Taylor, S. E., Klein, L. C., Lewis, B. P., Gruenewald, T. L., Gurung, R. A., & Updegraff, J. A. (2000).
Biobehavioral Responses to Stress in Females: Tend and Befriend, Not Fight or Flight.
Turton, S., & Campbell, C. (2007). Tend and Befriend Versus Fight or Flight: Gender Differences in