Gender Differences in Interpersonal Coping and Depressive Symptoms During Emerging Adulthood

The current study examined how interpersonal coping styles (anxious/expressive, dismissive, and adaptive) within parent and peer domains were associated with depressive symptoms in emerging adults, and whether these associations were moderated by gender. The sample included 352 undergraduate students at a Midwestern university (41% women, 59% men), primarily White/Caucasian (88.9%), with a mean age of 18.91 years (SD = 0.97). Participants completed the Interpersonal Coping Styles Questionnaire and the Brief Symptom Inventory. At the bivariate level, anxious/expressive coping with both parents and peers were associated with higher depressive symptoms, whereas adaptive coping was not significantly related to depressive symptoms. Dismissive coping was associated with depressive symptoms only in the parent domain. In regression analyses, peer-related coping accounted for additional variance in depressive symptoms beyond parent-related coping, whereas the reverse was not observed. Gender moderated several associations. Among men, anxious/expressive coping with peers was positively associated with depressive symptoms, whereas adaptive coping with peers was negatively associated. Among women, dismissive coping with peers was associated with higher depressive symptoms. These findings highlight the relevance of relational context and gender in understanding depressive symptoms.