Women Commute With More Stress Than Men in Test : Transportation: The grind of traffic wears down both sexes in a UCI study, leading to anxiety and family conflicts after getting home from work. Perhaps a car pool?

Women who commute long distances to work are more likely than men to suffer stress that continues even after they get home, according to a UC Irvine study released Wednesday.

The study found that longer commutes and heavy traffic congestion cause more family conflicts for both sexes but that women also experience the commute itself more negatively.

“There were significant gender effects for ratings of traffic jams and traffic as a frequent inconvenience,” said Dr. Raymond Novaco, who conducted the study. “Women were less satisfied with their commutes in general and felt more constrained by them.”

From August, 1988, to May, 1989, Novaco, an associate professor of social ecology, and his associates recorded how congestion affected 99 solo commuters. All of them worked at Allergan Pharmaceuticals or Parker Hannifin, two large industrial firms in Irvine. The routes by the men and women in the study did not differ significantly.

The blood pressures of the commuters were measured on arrival at work. Their heart rates were measured 2 1/2 hours later, and they were asked to complete a questionnaire upon returning home.

Novaco said women were more likely to be anxious and get involved in family conflicts after long commutes.

Women, who represented 51% of the people in the study, reported that they also felt “more rushed in getting to work,” Novaco said.

He said the commute may just be one more stress factor in an already-stressful situation for working women, noting that previous studies have found that women are more likely to have household responsibilities that make them exhausted, irritable and unable to unwind after a long day on the job.

“Another possibility to be explored,” Novaco said, “is that women with long commutes reported significantly less choice in selecting residence, and less satisfaction with their residential location, than the men in the study. It is possible that they may have compromised more in making their decision to live where they do.”

The study, financed by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research Centers, also suggested that evening traffic jams, usually the longest, have the most negative effects on commuters.

“Perhaps it would help if the commuter does something health-enhancing before he or she gets home,” Novaco said. “Doing some exercises or spending time with a friend car-pooling could go a long way.”