Coping styles and vulnerability of women at work in residential settings

Abstract

This study concerns a representative sample of workers in Child Guidance Clinics in The Netherlands, and permits a systematic comparison of the sexes. Utilizing a model of stress developed for organizational settings, and originally proposed by French and Caplan, the following major findings are obtained: women show much higher anxiety levels than men, suffer less from health threats such as hypertension and excessive drinking, but are more vulnerable in coping with detrimental life events. With regard to coping strategies, men resort to a far greater extent to active cognitive coping, suggesting an assertive outgoing attitude. By contrast, women resort, to a far greater extent, to social support in seeking solutions for their problems. These findings were supported by multiple regression analyses, using health risks and strains as the dependent variables.