The demands of Christmas shopping, panic purchases and last-minute high street raids is enough to bring anyone out in a cold sweat.

Now Lucia Glover has thrown herself into the turmoil of the High Street to study Brighton's shopping habits as part of a sociology research project.

She has examined the retail habits of men and women to determine which gender feels the stress of the experience most.

Lucia, 20, has also talked to people from middle-class and working-class families in the hope of spotting sociological differences in their shopping routines.

The sociology student, in her third year at the University of Sussex, decided to delve into the social and sexual politics of shopping after studying the power relationships behind present-giving routines.

Lucia, of Elm Grove, Brighton, said: "I looked at what it means to buy gifts for people and give them in return. Often, the process reinforces existing power structures. It may not be conscious but parents give expensive gifts to their children as a way of highlighting their authority.

"A gift implies a bond, which then has to be reciprocated, so it can also be used as a symbol of the power relationship between friends."

Lucia's current project will account for about a third of her degree. Following her interviews with shoppers, she will write a 6,000-word thesis.

She said: "I have been looking at differences in gender, class and age. People in their teens and 20s take a very relaxed approach to Christmas shopping. They don't get stressed about it and enjoy it more.

"They are likely to be buying purely for close family and won't spend more than about £150, buying an average of eight presents.

"There isn't much of a gender gap in this age group - if anything, the boys are more organised than the girls.

"The most stressed category is the middle class mums. They tend to go on lots of dedicated Christmas shopping trips and are often buying presents for the whole extended family.

"They feel a real pressure to buy the 'right' presents, particularly for their children. This is especially true of working mums who may be trying to make up for the time they spend away from home by buying expensive gifts.

"Middle-class fathers often ask their kids to buy gifts for their wife. They usually leave it to the last minute and are more likely to buy things on the internet, especially ebay, than any other group.

"The working-class mums were interesting. I interviewed women at a drop-in group in Whitehawk.

"Many of them had already started buying gifts in July, and some were planning to spend as much as £800 on Christmas. Quite a few were getting into debt for it.

"I think they want to have a big splurge at Christmas to compensate for having to be careful the rest of the year.

"Some of them felt stressed but a lot of them were excited about the whole process of Christmas shopping."

Unfortunately, Lucia found her project interfered with her own gift-buying plans.

She said: "Every time I thought about what to buy for people it reminded me of work, so I kept putting it off.

"But now I have done most of my interviews I have finally been able to hit the shops - and I didn't feel stressed at all."