How Does Anxiety Affect Women Differently?
September 28th, 2026 by Ishaani Sheth
Get this: 1 in 5 adults in the United States are affected by anxiety disorder(s). (Kessler) Anxiety disorders are also more commonly reported among women, with a significant difference between men and women: In the United States, 23.4% of adult females experienced an anxiety disorder, compared with 14.3% of males (“Any Anxiety Disorder - National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)”). This staggering difference is alarming, as females and males are reported to experience anxiety differently. These differences can be attributed to three main reasons: hormonal fluctuations, stress-response differences, and societal expectations.
Hormonal Fluctuations
For starters, progesterone and estrogen are hormones with the job of regulating the menstrual cycle, supporting pregnancy, and influencing overall body health. These hormones can interact with systems in the brain involved in mood, stress, fear, and emotional regulation. These areas include the hippocampus and amygdala – two parts of the brain important in the processing of emotions – and the prefrontal regions.
When physiological transitions involving hormonal changes occur, such as puberty, pregnancy, or perimenopause, women can experience changes or worsened anxiety/symptoms of anxiety. Estrogen and progesterone can influence neural circuits involved in stress, fear, and emotion. These hormonal changes can influence anxiety levels and mood. (“Gender Differences in Anxiety Disorders: Prevalence, Course of Illness, Comorbidity and Burden of Illness”)
(Limbic system)
Societal Expectations
In addition to brain chemistry, societal expectations can also impact women and the levels of anxiety they experience. Traditionally, women were often expected to take on more roles of caregiving, such as tending to children or housework. These responsibilities can lead women to feel like they have no time or limited time for themselves. (“Anxiety symptoms in women: Causes, coping strategies, and more”) Women who challenge gender expectations may feel social pressure, judgment, and shame, contributing to anxiety.
The Way We Respond to Stress
Since women go through hormonal fluctuations and societal expectations, researchers have investigated whether these factors contribute to how women respond to and experience anxiety. For instance, women often internalize anxiety, and this pattern begins from childhood (a possible influence of gender socialization).* The internalization of anxiety commonly shows up as rumination: a repetitive behavior of replaying bad thoughts, past experiences, or past scenarios with no perfect resolution. Research has also looked into differences in amygdala activity between females and males when reacting to emotions. Findings are complex, and although there is some proof of women having a strengthened response to emotions, they are inconsistent and not proven completely true. (ReachLink)
Conclusions
Overall, women are reported to experience anxiety disorders at higher rates than men. Research suggests that this difference is not just the cause of one factor alone, but instead the effect of hormonal fluctuations influencing the brain’s response, and societal expectations causing behavioral patterns early on. One important note is that anxiety in women should not be labeled as just being caused by hormones. When society and health professionals reduce a woman's mental health and their struggles to hormones, they can overlook the biological, psychological, and social factors that are influencing their situation. It’s important to understand the differences in women’s mental health, especially because they have been pushed to the backburner for decades. The more we understand about how anxiety affects women, the better we can understand how to support them. From my point of view, although there is some research in this field, I hope to see a research team going into more detail of how the reactions to emotional stimuli change during every part of a woman’s menstrual cycle.
*Gender Socialization: “...a process of implicit and explicit messages transmitted to children by parents, the family, and society.” (“Gender Socialization - an overview”) In simpler terms, gender socialization is a lifelong process where one learns about cultural norms associated with gender.
Posted in: Hormonal & Reproductive Health