Coping strategies and health symptoms among women and men in a downsizing organisation.
This study examined how women and men cope with stress during a period of organizational change and how the coping strategies are related to health. Questionnaire responses were obtained from 98 female and male administrators of health care service working in a Swedish governmental County Council during a period of downsizing. In line with earlier studies, the results showed women to be more likely than men to endorse the emotion-focused strategies of Seeking Social Support and Focus on and Venting of Emotions. Contrary to earlier studies the men did not report using problem-focused strategies more frequently than the women. The results of a regression analysis indicated that the reported use of problem-focused strategies did not contribute significantly to the explained variance in health. Instead, the emotion-focused strategy Denial explained a significant proportion of variance in the health problems. No sex differences in reported health problems were found.
Torkelson
Eva
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Department of Psychology, Lund University, Sweden. Eva.Torkelson@Psychology.lu.se
Muhonen
Tuija
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D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006298:Health Services Administration; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D020415:Personnel Downsizing / Q000523:psychology*; D011340:Problem Solving; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012737:Sex Factors; D012944:Social Support; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications; D013548:Sweden