Short Communication: Gender differences in coping with the major external stress of the Washington,D.C. sniper

This study examined the relationship between gender and strategies for coping for individuals faced with a perceived major, life‐threatening stressor. The focus here was the sniper(s) that terrorized the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area for over 3 weeks in October 2002. A retrospective survey of 144 random respondents regarding their behavior and coping mechanisms during this period indicated that, overall, women's behavior was affected more than men's. Unexpectedly, most emotion‐focused coping mechanisms studied here yielded no significant gender differences. The findings are discussed in light of recent thinking in social psychology on sex‐role stereotyping and risk‐taking. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.