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Coping Strategies: Gender Differences and Development throughout Life Span

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Juan Carlos Meléndez ,
Teresa Mayordomo ,
Patricia Sancho  and
José Manuel Tomás
Juan Carlos Meléndez*
Affiliation:
Universidad de Valencia (Spain)
Teresa Mayordomo
Affiliation:
Universidad de Valencia (Spain)
Patricia Sancho
Affiliation:
Universidad de Valencia (Spain)
José Manuel Tomás
Affiliation:
Universidad de Valencia (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Juan Carlos Meléndez Moral. Dpto. de Psicología Evolutiva y de la Educación, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Valencia, Av. Blasco Ibáñez, 21, 46010 - Valencia (Spain). E-mail: melendez@uv.es
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Abstract

Development during life-span implies to cope with stressful events, and this coping may be done with several strategies. It could be useful to know if these coping strategies differ as a consequence of personal characteristics. This work uses the Coping with Stress Questionnaire with this aim using a sample of 400 participants. Specifically, the effects of gender and age group (young people, middle age and elderly), as well as its interaction on coping strategies is studied. With regard to age, on one hand, it is hypothesised a decrement in the use of coping strategies centred in problem solving and social support seeking as age increases. On the other hand, the use of emotional coping is hypothesised to increase with age. With respect to gender, it is hypothesised a larger use of emotional coping and social support seeking within women, and a larger use of problem solving within men. A MANOVA found significant effects for the two main effects (gender and age) as well as several interactions. Separate ANOVAs allowed us to test for potential differences in each of the coping strategies measured in the CAE. These results partially supported the hypotheses. Results are discussed in relation to scientific literature on coping, age and gender.

El desarrollo a lo largo del ciclo vital implica afrontar situaciones estresantes, lo que puede hacerse mediante diversas estrategias de afrontamiento. Los tipos de estrategias empleadas pueden diferir en función de características personales. Este trabajo estudia estas potenciales diferencias en algunas de estas características empleando como medida de afrontamiento el CAE. Específicamente se han probado los efectos de la edad, del género y de su interacción en las estrategias empleadas por una muestra de 400 adultos españoles. En relación a la edad, se hipotetiza que habrá una disminución en la aplicación de las centradas en la solución de problemas y búsqueda de apoyo social al aumentar la edad y un aumento de las centradas en la emoción. En relación al género, se hipotetiza que los hombres usarán más frecuentemente estrategias de solución de problemas, y las mujeres de las centradas en la emoción y búsqueda de apoyo social. Se empleó MANOVA para evaluar estos tanto los efectos principales como los de interacción. Los ANOVAs de continuación permitieron contrastar las potenciales diferencias en cada una de las distintas estrategias de afrontamiento, que apoyaban parcialmente las hipótesis planteadas. Se discuten los resultados encontrados relacionándolos con la literatura científica.

Keywords

coping strategiesyoung peoplemiddle ageelderlygenderestrategi as de afrontamientojóvenesadultosancianosgénero
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , November 2012 , pp. 1089 - 1098
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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