I'm a man, USA. In my personal experience, which doesn't mean very much, I've noticed that men seem unable to accept catastrophy. They try to reason or wiggle a way out of it. Woman seem more at ease when dealing with horrible events.
If I had to guess, it is a difference in perception and experience. Perhaps men are groomed to be "providers, problem solvers," and so they despair at unsolvable problems, while women are told not to "overreact," and to "support" others in times of crisis. Like a weird inverted effect of patriarchal society.