Women's stress responses and coping patterns according to age groups: Part II.

This descriptive study analyzed the relationships between women's age groups and their physical and emotional symptoms of stress and their usual coping patterns. Significant differences between age groups are shown for four physical symptoms and eight emotional symptoms. Younger women (25–34 years) were more likely to report these symptoms than women between 55 and 65 years of age. Seven coping patterns of women were significantly different by age groups. Younger women were more likely to use talking, rest/relaxation, and isolation, while women between 55 and 65 used working, religion, and ignoring the problem.