27 Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Short Communication: Gender differences in coping with the major external stress of the Washington, D.C. sniper Ari Z. Zivotofsky 1, * ,† and Meni Koslowsky 2 1 The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900 Israel 2 Psychology Department, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900 Israel *Correspondence to: Ari Z. Zivotofsky, The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan Uni- versity, Ramat Gan, 52900 Israel. Tel: (972)-3-531- 7796. Fax: (972)-3-535-2184. † E-mail: zivotoa@mail.biu.ac.il Stress and Health Stress and Health 21: 27–31 (2005) Published online 26 October 2004 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/smi.1033 Received 6 June 2004 Revised 30 August 2004 Accepted 3 September 2004 situation progresses, the strategies used by one individual may change and evolve. Research has yielded conflicting evidence about differences in coping strategies between men and women. Jordan and Revenson (1999) found that in coping with infertility, women were signifi- cantly more likely to use certain strategies, such as seeking social support and escape-avoidance, than their partners. Similarly, Slusarcick, Ursano, Fullerton, and Dinneen (1999) reported different mechanisms of stress reduction by men and women even though both were performing an identical stressful activity. Work locus of control was a significant predictor of ill-health only for women (Muhonen & Torkelson, 2004). Silver, Holman, McIntosh, Poulin, and Gil-Rivas (2002) showed that following a major stressor women were significantly more likely to experience post- traumatic stress symptoms than men. Summary 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 ter- rorized the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area for over 3 weeks in October 2002. A ret- rospective 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. Unex- pectedly, most emotion-focused coping mechanisms studied here yielded no significant gender dif- ferences. 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. Key Words stress and coping; gender differences; stereotyping Introduction All people experience problems and stressors in their lives and must find mechanisms with which to cope with these difficulties. These stressors range from the everyday, mundane to the more significant and serious such as job layoffs and illnesses (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989). How people cope with stress varies from person to person and from situation to situation (Ben-Zur & Zeidner, 1995; Rosario, Shinn, Morch, & Huckabee, 1988). Even as a particular