Document Type

Article

Author ORCID Identifier

Saeed Ahmad https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6896-2722

Sara Rizvi Jafree https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5141-1107

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Annals of Medicine

Volume

55

Issue

2

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Publication Date

12-17-2023

First Page

1

Last Page

16

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Abstract

Background

Academic research has highlighted the gendered impacts and amplifications of gender disparities of COVID-19. Traditionally, Pakistan is a patriarchal society, where it is a parenthood norm to socialize specific gender social roles.

Objectives

The current research asserts that these normative gender roles may influence individuals throughout their life course, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the present study explored the influence of gender identity in adopting different coping strategies such as religious-spiritual, preventive, emotion-focused and non-constructive coping against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

Due to the lockdown in various areas of Pakistan, data were collected through an online questionnaire using Qualtrics. In a cross-sectional study, 955 respondents completed responses. Factors analysis and reliability analysis were run to ensure the scales' reliability, validity and robustness for different coping strategies. Multivariate linear regression analysis was used to find model fitness.

Conclusions

For theoretical explanation, the current study used social role theory that argues that each gender benefits differently from distinct coping behaviours. The findings highlighted that women were more likely to adopt most coping strategies, with the most significant difference in religious-spiritual coping and preventative coping strategies even in the presence of control variables such as level of education, household monthly income, family structure, marital status and family size. There was no gender difference in adopting non-constructive strategies. The empirical evidence suggested that females might be at an increased risk of stress due to the burden of unbalanced household-based social norms and care responsibilities. The current research also expanded the base of coping to religious-spiritual coping, emotion-focused coping and non-constructive coping.

Key messages

  • In Pakistan, higher adoption of coping strategies among women compared to men (such as religious-spiritual coping, preventative coping, emotion-focused coping, etc.) has raised serious concerns related to increased risk of stress and emotional fatigue among females in the country due to their coping behaviours.
  • More research is needed to develop and support women's active and productive role within the household to promote public health and positive coping strategies for families.

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