Polne razlike u strategijama suočavanja sa stresom kod bračnih partnera u Srbiji
Sex Differences in Copping Strategies Among Marital Partners in Serbia

Summary/Abstract: Different factors have an influence on which coping strategies are used under different conditions, including sex. Sex differences are consistently reported in the coping literature, but in our country little attention has been given to examining possible distinctions in coping strategies, especially in the marital context, so the purpose of this study was to examine sex differences in coping strategies among marital partners. The data were collected among 446 married couples aged from 17 to 81 (M = 40.85, SD = 11.48) with different sociodemographic characteristics (education, employment and socioeconomic status), who had lived together for between 11 months and 57 years (M = 14.15, SD = 11.79). The participants responded to a coping questionnaire (Brief COPE scale, Carver, 1997) with the 14 subscales: self-distraction, active coping, denial, substance use, use of emotional support, use of instrumental support, behavioural disengagement, venting, positive reframing, planning, humour, acceptance, religion, and self-blame. To assess sex differences across the aforementioned coping strategies, the one-way MANOVA was performed. The results indicated that women used the strategies of self-distraction, emotional support requirement, instrumental support requirement, venting, planning and religion to a greater degree than their partners, but these differences have small effects. The obtained results are consistent with the results of recent studies which suggest a decrease in gender differences and emphasize the role of social changes and context in the choice of coping strategies. Contrary to the results of previous studies, the obtained results suggest that women use both emotion focused strategies and problem-focused coping strategies as frequently as men. Explanations of these findings could potentially be found in the very nature of the sample and the consideration of the situational hypothesis, as well as in the variety of strategies that are considered as emotion-focused. In addition to the theoretical, the results of the conducted study have also some practical implications. Since many studies have identified coping strategies as predictors of general marital functioning, an examination of various aspects of this construct is extremely important for understanding the marital dynamics and characteristics of a relationship. Since this research identifies both similarities and differences in the frequency of using certain coping strategies, potential sex differences should be considered before planning any intervention or treatment focused on coping with stress, at both the individual and the couple level.

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