Gender differences in the experience of psychological abuse within dating relationships: The moderating effects of gender role stress and coping strategies

Little is known about the nature and extent of the psychological abuse men experience in their dating relationships, and whether the effects of such abuse are comparable to those experienced by women. The present thesis focused on gender differences in the experience of different forms of psychological abuse, and whether gender role stress and coping strategies endorsed might moderate the relations between experiencing abuse from a partner and its impact, as indicated by levels of depressive affect and the perpetration of abuse. A community sample of male and female participants (N = 528; 120 men, 408 women) from across Canada completed a web-based survey comprising measures that assessed the receipt and perpetration of abuse, coping strategies, gender role stress, and depressive affect. Results from analyses of variance and regression analyses revealed that males and females experienced similar levels of psychological abuse, and that abuse, gender role stress, and avoidance coping were associated with depressive affect. Moreover, gender role stress moderated the relations between the receipt of certain forms of psychological abuse and the perpetration of abuse, particularly for males, whereas among females gender role stress was associated with the use of emotion-focused coping. The interpretation and implications of the findings are discussed.