Personality characteristics and coping styles of women working in and in training for nontraditional blue collar jobs

43 women employed in nontraditional blue collar jobs were compared with 27 women in training for such jobs on a number of variables linked to job succ ess and satisfaction. The purpose of the study was to determine whether wom en enter blue collar trades with characteristics that predispose them to su ccessful work-role transitions or whether they adopt different coping style s and behavioral characteristics oner time in order to fit into their work environments. Questionnaire packets that contained the Self-efficacy Scale, the Personal Assertion Analysis, the Ways of Coping Scale-Revised, and the Bem Sex Role Inventory were completed by 70 women. Participants in trainin g were more androgynous and higher than expected on both problem-focused an d emotion-focused coping. Possible explanations and suggestions for researc h are discussed.