Nigerian Men Cope with Stress and Adversities than Women
Nigerian Men Cope with Stress and Adversities than Women
+SenorRita Ponders
Nigeria Men Cope with Stress and Adversities than Women
More women struggle with their mental health than men in Nigeria, the 2023 Global Mind Project data revealed.
The Project defines mental well-being as “the ability of an individual to handle the everyday stresses and adversities of life and contribute productively to society.”
Its Mental Health Quotient (MHQ) measures “Six-dimensional scores of Mood & Outlook, Social Self, Drive & Motivation, Adaptability & Resilience, Cognition, and Mind-Body Connection (which) are also computed using subsets of the 47 assessed items to provide a more granular view.”
Data shows that, in Nigeria, the Mental Health Quotient for men is 89.76%, while the women's is 77%. This indicates that men in Nigeria generally have a higher mental well-being than the women.
Nigerian Women More Resilient than Global Peers
While Nigerian women feel more overwhelmed in their minds than men, they still fare better than their global peers.
The Nigerian women's mental health quotient is higher than the global women's average.
Globally, the average women's mental health quotient is 61.3%, while that of Nigerian women is 77%, surpassing the global average by 15.7%.
On the male side, the Nigerian Men Mental Health Quotient average is higher than the global average for men.
Nigerian men scored 89.76% for their Mental state, well above the 68.08% global average score for men.
Nigerian Women: Distressed, Struggling, and Managing
In Nigeria, a higher proportion of women are distressed, struggle with overwhelming life demands, and are just managing to get by than men, analysis of the Global Mind Project 2023 reveals.
However, more men are Enduring, Succeeding and Thriving in their mental states than women.
A study says that more women than men suffer from mental health because “women ruminate more frequently than men, focusing repetitively on their negative emotions and problems rather than engaging in more active problem-solving.”
So while men externalise their emotions and act on them, women are more likely to internalise their feelings and withdraw.
Globally, Women's Mental Health are at Stake
Globally, women across the globe are Distressed, struggling and enduring their mental health.
Data shows that Nigerian women compared with other women of the world, are Managing, Succeeding and thriving mentally above the world average.
The Meridian Psychiatric partners say that “Women are more vulnerable to these mental illnesses because of a complicated combination of several risk factors that uniquely stem from their biology, psychology, and tensions between sociocultural roles and personal identities. This is why women need to prioritize their mental health.’
However, studies show that women's mental health should be prioritised. Mental health vulnerabilities are found in both men and women, but some are common with women.
Yet, Nigerian women fair better in their resilience than the average woman, globally.
SenorRita Ponders
Do men really cope better with stress and adversity than women? If so, why? And why do Nigerian women show more resilience than the average man and woman at the global level?
We hope you enjoyed this edition of SenorRita. We will all be fine along the way, woman or man.
This edition was written by Kafilat Taiwo, a woman who believes she’s not weaker than the average man when faced with stress and life’s challenges. It was edited by Oluseyi Olufemi, who believes both genders are resilient in some way, but men are usually required by cultural norms to show that they are emotionally stabler than women.