A Model of the Relationship of Sex-Role Orientation to Social Problem-Solving

The study developed and empirically tested an integrated model that examined the relationships between sex-role orientations and the two conceptually related coping behaviors, namely, response styles and social problem-solving, using structural equation modeling. A total of 181 (129 females and 52 males) undergraduate students from a large public university in the northeast United States completed the Bem-Sex Role Inventory, the Response Style Questionnaire and the Rational Problem Solving scale of the Social Problem-Solving Inventory—Revised. Results showed that masculinity was related to social problem-solving. Sex-role orientations were not related to response styles. Both ruminative response style and distractive response style were positively related to rational problem-solving.