What are Americans' leading sources of stress?
How do sex and gender roles affect the experience of stress and the response to stressors?
What strategies can be used to counter stress and anxiety during exams?
What are the warning signs of suicide?

What are Americans' leading sources of stress?

In 2006, the American Psychological Association, the National Women's Health Resource Center, and iVillage.com conducted a survey to determine Americans' leading sources of stress. Here are the results:

The same respondents reported the following physical or emotional problems related to their stress:

How sex and gender roles affect the experience of stress and the response to stressors?

Men and women alike experience stress, but they experience it differently. Women are more likely than men to find themselves balancing multiple roles, such as those of student, spouse, and parent. Women who work outside the home still do most of the housework—although today's husbands are helping in greater numbers than previous generations did—and housework isn't limited to cleaning or doing laundry. For example, more than 60% of women make all decisions about their family's health care, including decisions about elderly parents.

Women make up more than half the workforce but still face many workplace-related disparities that can be sources of stress. For example, women make less money than men in comparable jobs, are more likely to suffer sexual harassment or discrimination, and are less likely to be promoted into leadership positions.

          The pressures of home, workplace, and school can create very high stress levels. This is especially true for women who see themselves in the traditional gender role as the family's primary caregiver.

          Men who fit a traditional male gender role may feel compelled to be in charge at all times. Their communication style may be competitive or aggressive, causing stress in interpersonal situations and limiting their ability to build a support network. Such men may keenly feel the responsibility to support a family, which can compound existing pressures at home and at work.

          A 2006 survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, the National Women's Health Resource Center, and ivillage.com reported the percentages of men and women who feel stressed by the following issues:

          In general, 51% of women reported that their stress affected them in some way, compared to 43% of men.

          Because male testosterone levels rise from puberty onward, men tend to have higher blood pressure than women of the same age. This factor contributes to greater wear on the male circulatory system, sometimes increasing a man's risk for cardiovascular disease. A part of the brain that regulates emotions—the amygdala—is sensitive to testosterone. Thus, men may be predisposed to see social situations as more threatening than women do, resulting in more frequent stress responses.

          Conversely, women have higher levels of oxytocin (a hormone involved in social interaction and the regulation of mood) and are more likely to respond to stressors by seeking social support. This coping response may give women a longevity advantage over men by decreasing the risk of stress-related disorders. It does not, however, free women from stress-related ailments. Women are more likely than men to suffer stress- related hypertension, depression, and obesity. Recent research also shows that women who juggle multiple roles face an increased risk of heart disease, compared to women who do not need to balance different roles.

What strategies can be used to counter stress and anxiety during exams?

Are you a person who doesn't perform as well as you should on tests? Do you find that anxiety interferes with your ability to study effectively before the test and to think clearly in the test situation? If so, you may be experiencing test anxiety—ineffective response to a stressful situation that can be replaced with more effective responses. If test anxiety is a problem for you, try some of the following strategies:

• Before the test, find out everything you can about it—its format, the material to be covered, the grading criteria. Ask the instructor for practice materials. Study in advance; don't just cram the night before. Avoid all-nighters.
• Devise a study plan. This might include forming a study group with one or more classmates or outlining what you will study, when, where, or for how long. Generate your own questions and answer them.
• In the actual test situation, sit away from possible distractions, listen carefully to instructions, and ask for clarification if you don't understand a direction.
• During the test, answer the easiest questions first. If you don't know an answer and there is no penalty for incorrect answers, guess. If there are several questions you have difficulty answering, review the ones you have already handled. Figure out approximately how much time you have to cover each question.
• For math problems, try to estimate the answer before doing the precise calculations.
• For true-false questions, look for qualifiers such as "always" and "never." Such questions are likely to be false.
• For essay questions, look for key words in the question that indicate what the instructor is looking for in the answer. Develop a brief outline of your answer, sketching out what you will cover. Stick to your outline, and keep track of the time you're spending on your answer. Don't get caught with unanswered questions when time is up.
• Remain calm and focused throughout the test. Don't let negative thoughts rattle you. Avoid worrying about past performance, how others are doing, or the negative consequences of a poor test grade. If you start to become nervous, take some deep breaths and relax your muscles completely for a minute or so.

          The best way to counter test anxiety is with successful test-taking experiences. The more times you succeed, the more your test anxiety will fade.

What are the warning signs of suicide?

One of the principal dangers of severe depressions is suicide. Although a suicide attempt can occur unpredictably and unaccompanied by depression, the chances are greater if symptoms are numerous and severe.

          Symptoms of depression include feeling sad and hopeless, loss of pleasure in doing usual activities, poor appetite and weight loss, disturbed sleep, restlessness or fatigue, thoughts of worthlessness and guilt, trouble concentrating or making decisions, and thoughts of death or suicide. Additional warning signs and risk factors for suicide include the following:

• Expressing the wish to be dead or revealing contemplated methods
• Increasing social withdrawal and isolation
• A sudden, inexplicable lightening of mood (which can mean the person has finally decided to commit suicide)
• A history of previous attempts
• A suicide by a family member or friend
• Readily available means, such as guns or pills
• A history of substance abuse or eating disorders
• Serious medical problems

In the United States, men have much higher suicide rates than women, and whites and Native Americans have higher rates than other groups; white men over age 65 have the highest suicide rate. Women attempt three times as many suicides as men, yet men succeed at more than three times the rate of women; men tend to choose more lethal methods, such as firearms.