Skip to content

Gender differences in how boys and girls cope

Dr Ramon Lewis of the University of Ballarat has some interesting things to say about the differences between boys and girls and how thy they cope with the difficult ‘stuff ‘ of life. He says that:

Research with young people has shown that boys and girls use some coping strategies more than others.

Preferred coping styles of adolescent males and females

BOYS MORE LIKELY                                          GIRLS MORE LIKELY
   THAN GIRLS TO:                                                     THAN BOYS TO:

use humour or jokes                                                talk to others about it seek
                                                                                           social support

use physical recreation                                          set out to solve their problems
eg sports, games

deny anything is wrong                                              be fatalistic – think they
                                                                                            can do nothing about it

be aggressive eg hit out                                                           work hard

ignore the problem                                                           use tension reduction
                                                                                                    eg cry

manage by themselves                                                                     worry

act out                                                                                          blame themselves

abuse substances eg. alcohol                                               seek spiritual support
                                                                                                          eg pray

use distraction                                                                         seek others’ approval

entilate emotions                                                                    engage in wishful thinking

 

Interesting stuff. What do you think?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.