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Two theories have been advanced to explain gender differences in coping. Socialization theory states that women are socialized into using less effective coping strategies than men. Role constraint theory affirms that no gender differences in coping exist when men and women occupy the same roles. Three studies, where the roles occupied by women and men were the same, were conducted to test the theories. Two of them also compared role constraint and socialization theories for social support. The results for coping did not support the socialization theory and partially supported the role constraint theory. With one exception, men and women did not differ in the ways they coped with similar role stressors. The results for social support indicated that women reported using more support than men in similar role situations. These findings suggest that higher levels of psychological disturbance among women cannot be attributed to their coping styles independent of their social roles.
Rosario et al. (1988) studied this question.