Gender differences in coping strategies as predictors of psychopathological symptoms among soccer referees

Introduction: Previous research has yielded inconsistent findings regarding the relationship between athletes’ gender and coping strategies. This study, therefore, aimed to examine whether there are gender differences in coping strategies as predictors of psychopathological symptoms. Methods: A cross-sectional, anonymous online study was conducted with 213 principal soccer referees, 70.9% of whom were men. The mean age was 27.69 years, with an average refereeing experience of 8.36 years. Assessment instruments included the Symptom Assessment-45 Questionnaire (SA-45) and the Coping Inventory for Competitive Sport (CICS). Results: Regression analyses indicated that, among women, coping strategies did not significantly predict psychopathological symptoms; instead, work-life balance (WLB) emerged as a negative predictor (β = −0.305). Among men, psychopathological symptoms were positively associated with emotion-oriented coping (EOC) (β = 0.500) and negatively associated with both WLB (β = −0.204) and task-oriented coping (TOC) (β = −0.268). Discussion: Gender differences in the predictive capacity of coping strategies for psychopathological symptoms should be interpreted within the broader theoretical framework contrasting situational and developmental hypotheses. Conclusion: Difficulties in achieving work-life balance are a key predictor of psychopathological symptoms for both men and women. However, coping strategies showed predictive value only among men, particularly EOC as a risk factor and TOC as a protective factor.