Gender and Marital Status Differences in Control and Distress: Common Stress versus Unique Stress Explanations

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Abstract
This paper attempts to explain the higher psychological distress and psychological vulnerability of women and the unmarried as a function of greater exposure to uncontrollable life events (including network events) and perceived lack of control over life circumstances. Panel data on a sample of 1,106 adult heads of household living in Chicago provide measures of relevant variables. Contrary to expectation, event exposure is inconsistently associated with gender and marital status; instead exposure depends on the types of roles held by individuals. Although group members at higher risk of disturbance perceive less control over their lives, these perceptions neither singly nor jointly with event exposure, explain gender or marital status differences in psychological distress or in vulnerability to negative events in general. In light of these findings, the utilities of a "common stress" and a "unique stress" approach for explaining status differences in symptoms are contrasted.