PERSONAL COPING RESOURCES AND SEX-DIFFERENCES

The present study aims to clarify the interrelations between neuroticisms, anxiety, extraversion, physical fitness, Type A behavior and several other coping styles like attitudes towards active problem solving, palliative responding, avoidance behavior, seeking social support, expressing emotions and having comforting cognitions. All these characteristics make up the 'adaptive capacity' as personal coping resources in the stress-illness relationship. It is made apparent that there are several reasons to investigate these relations for men and women separately. Seventy-seven subjects (40 men and 37 women) participated in this study. Although some sex differences were found, these differences were not apparent when correlating physical fitness, and the stable personality characteristics of neuroticism, anxiety and extraversion. However, significant sex differences were found in the correlations between Type A behavior and the coping styles and between neuroticism, extraversion, anxiety, Type A behavior and the coping styles. The possible implications of these findings for a sex specific stress-illness relation are discussed. © 1990.