WORK STRESS, SOCIAL SUPPORT, AND STRAINS AMONG MALE AND FEMALE MANAGERS

According to some theories about men and women in management, women as minority members (''tokens'') in managerial functions are confronted with unique problems that are not shared by their male counterparts. This may imply that women managers experience more work stress, less social support at work, and more mental and physical complaints than their male colleagues. After discussion of earlier empirical studies, a study amongst 155 male and female managers in the Netherlands is presented. Many aspects of the Michigan-model (main effects of work stress and social support and some buffering effects of social support on both physical and mental health) were replicated, but contrary to expectations, no sex differences in work stress, work support or health were found. The only sex differences that did appear were that women experienced a greater amount of life support than men, and that the relationships between work stress and work support and between life support and job satisfaction were stronger for women than for men. Possible explanations for these surprising results are discussed.