Editing Coping (section)

==Gender differences==
Gender differences in coping strategies are the ways in which men and women differ in managing [[psychological stress]]. There is evidence that males often develop stress due to their careers, whereas females often encounter stress due to issues in interpersonal relationships.<ref name="Davis"/> Early studies indicated that "there were gender differences in the sources of stressors, but gender differences in coping were relatively small after controlling for the source of stressors";<ref name="Billings"/> and more recent work has similarly revealed "small differences between women's and men's coping strategies when studying individuals in similar situations."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brannon |first1=Linda |last2=Feist |first2=Jess |title=Health Psychology: An Introduction to Behavior and Health: An Introduction to Behavior and Health |edition=7th |year=2009 |publisher=Wadsworth Cengage Learning |isbn=978-0-495-60132-6 |page=125}}</ref>

In general, such differences as exist indicate that women tend to employ emotion-focused coping and the "[[tend-and-befriend]]" response to stress, whereas men tend to use problem-focused coping and the "[[fight-or-flight]]" response, perhaps because societal standards encourage men to be more individualistic, while women are often expected to be [[interpersonal]]. An alternative explanation for the aforementioned differences involves genetic factors. The degree to which genetic factors and social conditioning influence behavior, is the subject of ongoing debate.<ref name="Washburn"/>