Gender Differences in Handling Marital Communication Conflict and Choice of Individual Coping Strategies

This study examined gender differences in handling marital communication conflict and choice of individual coping strategies in a sample of 130 (89 females and 41 males) married working individuals aged between 25 and 60 years old, who have been married for at least 6 months at the time of study. The Communication Pattern Questionnaires (CPQ) and Coping Resources Inventory (CRI) were used to collect the data. A Mann-Whitney U test was run to determine any differences in the scores of marital communication conflict and coping strategies between the males and the females. The median marital communication conflict score was statistically and significantly different between males and females, U = 1218.5, z = -3.037, p = 0.002. The median marital communication score for males was 164, which was higher than the female score of 142. The score for median coping strategies was also statistically significantly different between males and females, U = 1370.5, z = -2.276, p = 0.023. The score for median coping strategies for females was 165, which was higher than the scores of the males (159). The results indicate that the males attained significantly higher marital conflict communication scores than the females while females attained significantly higher coping strategy scores than the males