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Man-Up When Down — Gender-Specific Coping With Life Stressors

Panknin, Julia LU (2019) PSYP01 20191
Department of Psychology
Abstract
Socialization into gender roles shapes the perception of the world from an early age which might, amongst others, constrain how one handles challenging situations. Therefore, this research aimed at investigating gender-specific coping mechanisms following life stressors in a nonclinical sample. The present study first hypothesized that women are more likely than men to seek emotional social support. A second hypothesis concerned that men are more likely than women to use substances, in line with the self-medication hypothesis. The third hypothesis maintained that those who embrace stereotypical gender roles implicitly manifest more extreme coping mechanism and that this implicit association variable proves better than the original gender... (More)
Socialization into gender roles shapes the perception of the world from an early age which might, amongst others, constrain how one handles challenging situations. Therefore, this research aimed at investigating gender-specific coping mechanisms following life stressors in a nonclinical sample. The present study first hypothesized that women are more likely than men to seek emotional social support. A second hypothesis concerned that men are more likely than women to use substances, in line with the self-medication hypothesis. The third hypothesis maintained that those who embrace stereotypical gender roles implicitly manifest more extreme coping mechanism and that this implicit association variable proves better than the original gender variable at predicting coping. In total, 132 participants completed an online questionnaire including the Life Stressor Checklist–Revised, the COPE Inventory, an experimental design of the Implicit Association Test as well as an explicit measure, both to examine the gender self-concept. The results supported that men tended to be less likely to seek social support and more likely to use substances than women. Contrary to predictions of the third hypothesis, a stereotypically masculine or feminine self-concept only predicted coping with social support but not with substance use. Hence, this implicit variable was a superior predictor to gender with social support whereas the reversed pattern emerged for substance use. These findings could lead to an increased consideration of implicit gender stereotypes to unveil their hidden toxic influence on mental health. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Panknin, Julia LU
supervisor
organization
course
PSYP01 20191
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
gender differences, coping, Implicit Association Test, toxic masculinity, gender stereotypes, self-medication, social support
language
English
id
8984489
date added to LUP
2019-06-18 11:34:33
date last changed
2019-06-18 11:34:33
@misc{8984489,
  abstract     = {{Socialization into gender roles shapes the perception of the world from an early age which might, amongst others, constrain how one handles challenging situations. Therefore, this research aimed at investigating gender-specific coping mechanisms following life stressors in a nonclinical sample. The present study first hypothesized that women are more likely than men to seek emotional social support. A second hypothesis concerned that men are more likely than women to use substances, in line with the self-medication hypothesis. The third hypothesis maintained that those who embrace stereotypical gender roles implicitly manifest more extreme coping mechanism and that this implicit association variable proves better than the original gender variable at predicting coping. In total, 132 participants completed an online questionnaire including the Life Stressor Checklist–Revised, the COPE Inventory, an experimental design of the Implicit Association Test as well as an explicit measure, both to examine the gender self-concept. The results supported that men tended to be less likely to seek social support and more likely to use substances than women. Contrary to predictions of the third hypothesis, a stereotypically masculine or feminine self-concept only predicted coping with social support but not with substance use. Hence, this implicit variable was a superior predictor to gender with social support whereas the reversed pattern emerged for substance use. These findings could lead to an increased consideration of implicit gender stereotypes to unveil their hidden toxic influence on mental health.}},
  author       = {{Panknin, Julia}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Man-Up When Down — Gender-Specific Coping With Life Stressors}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}