Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in coping strategies and to see if
any differences were due to the appraisal process. One hundred participants from a sample of
convenience using the snowball effect were surveyed over the internet on survey monkey. An
additional 22 participants came from the Dublin fire brigade. Perceived stress, optimism,
problem based coping, emotional based coping and maladaptive coping were measured.
Women reported significantly higher levels of perceived stress, higher levels of emotional
based coping and maladaptive coping. Perceived stress was found to be a strong predictor of
maladaptive coping strategies and men were found to have a stronger correlation between
perceived stress and maladaptive coping.
