Gender Differences in the Psychological Symptomatology and Coping Strategies of Young Adolescents

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Abstract
This study examined gender differences in 298 seventh and ninth graders' self-reported psychological symptoms, coping strategies, and the relation between psychological symptoms and coping strategies. The most notable gender differences occurred in the area of symptomatology. For boys, the most frequently reported symptom was "Feeling uneasy when people are watching or talking about you"; for girls, it was "Worrying too much about things." Six symptoms were common to the 10 most frequent symptoms reported by boys and by girls. For both boys and girls, the most frequently endorsed coping strategies were "Listen to music" and "Watch TV." Five other strategies were among the 10 most frequent strategies reported by both boys and girls. For both boys and girls, frequent use of ventilation as a coping strategy was positively but weakly related to psychological symptomatology.