Are There Really Gender Differences in Coping?: A Reconsideration of Previous Data and Results from a Daily Study

Abstract

Tested the hypothesis that there are differences in the way men and women experience daily problems and in the coping strategies they use to handle them with longitudinal daily data. Previous studies have concluded that men use more instrumental, active coping while women tend towards more emotion-focused coping. These studies are limited because they did not consider the kinds of problems experienced or the subjects' psychological reaction (appraisal) to these problems, and because they used retrospective, summary measures of coping. In the present study, 156 men and women residing in the community completed daily questionnaire booklets that included items assessing stress and coping. Subjects were asked to describe the most bothersome problem of the day and answer questions concerning its severity, chronicity, the control that they had over its occurrence, and which of nine strategies they had used in handling the problem. Problems were coded into eight categories according to their content. Women reported more problems focused on the self, parenting problems, and problems with other people than men; men reported more work-related problems and more miscellaneous problems than women. Gender differences in appraisal and coping were minimal. Women appraised problems focused on the self as more chronic than men did, and men used more direct action than women in dealing with work problems. These findings contradict previous findings of gender differences in coping, and challenge the popular notion that men use more instrumental coping than women while women use more emotion-focused coping and social support.