tion in recalling negative events, thus undermining one's desire to engage in proactive and positive behaviors to resolve the problem. In contrast, boys and men respond to their stressors by engaging in distracting activities that alleviate the effects of their depressive episodes.
The existence of the significant gender differences in the coping styles of males and females indicates that gender roles exert a considerable impact on the ways males and females choose to cope with stressors. As Broderick and Korteland (2002) explained, females in traditional society are expected to be passive and docileùcharacteristics that conform to the ruminative coping style. On the other hand, males are supposed to display traditional "masculine" characteristics such as assertiveness and aggressiveness. Based on this upbringing, males tend to feel less threatened by life stressors than females. Moreover, they possess the confidence that they have the resources to cope with the situation effectively, thus allowing them to avoid symptoms of depression.
These gender role behaviors are cultivated from an early age. Parents typically play the primary roles in socializing boys and girls to conform to these gender role expectations. Keenan and Shaw (1997) pointed out that girls in preschools are rewarded by their parents for exhibiting compliant behavior, while boys are encouraged to participate in conflict situations (cited in Broderick & Korteland, 2002). Over time, with their development of metacognitive capabilities, girls and boys internalize these gender expectations by anticipating adult responses to their behavior (Broderick & Korteland, 2002).
In their three inter-related studies of boys and girls from early to mid-adolescence, Broderick and Korteland (2002) found that girls reported higher levels of depression than their male counterparts. Furthermore, both boys and girls tended to believe that rumination was an appropriate...