To examine the impact of androgyny and attributional style on coping a
bility, a demographic questionnaire, the Zeitlin Coping Inventory, the
Bem Sex-role Inventory and the Attributional Style Questionnaire were
completed by 301 first-year students at the University of Stellenbosc
h. It was found that androgynous female subjects displayed significant
ly better coping abilities than female subjects with feminine, masculi
ne, or undifferentiated sex-role orientations. No significant differen
ce was found between coping abilities of androgynous and masculine mal
e subjects, although both androgynous and masculine males showed signi
ficantly better coping abilities than males with feminine or undiffere
ntiated sex-role orientations. Regarding a specific aspect of coping,
namely flexibility of coping style, both male and female subjects with
androgynous sex-role orientations displayed significantly more flexib
ility in their coping styles than subjects of any other sex-role type.
Regarding attributional style, a significant positive correlation was
found between good coping ability and an internal, stable, and global
attributional style for positive events. A significant positive corre
lation was likewise found between good coping ability and an external,
unstable, and specific attributional style for negative events. The c
onclusion was drawn that androgyny and an adaptive attributional style
served as important coping resources.