ARE THERE REALLY GENDER DIFFERENCES IN COPING - A RECONSIDERATION OF PREVIOUS DATA AND RESULTS FROM A DAILY STUDY

Tested the hypothesis that there are differences in the way men and wo men experience daily problems and in the coping strategies they use to handle them with longitudinal daily data. Previous studies have concl uded that men use more instrumental, active coping while women tend to wards more emotion-focused coping. These studies are limited because t hey did not consider the kinds of problems experienced or the subjects ' psychological reaction (appraisal) to these problems, and because th ey used retrospective, summary measures of coping. in the present stud y, 156 men and women residing in the community completed dal ly questi onnaire booklets that included items assessing stress and coping. Subj ects were asked to describe the most bothersome problem of the day and answer questions concerning its severity, chronicity, the control tha t they had over its occurrence, and which of nine strategies they had used in handling the problem. Problems were coded into eight categorie s 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 proble ms than women. Gender differences in appraisal and coping were minimal . Women appraised problems focused on the self as more chronic than me n did, and men used more direct action than women in dealing with work problems. These findings contradict previous findings of gender diffe rences in coping, and challenge the popular notion that men use more i nstrumental coping than women while women use more emotion-focused cop ing and social support.