GENDER AS A MODERATOR OF THE RELATIONSHIPS OF STRESS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT TO PHYSICAL HEALTH IN COLLEGE-STUDENTS

The major purpose of the present study was to examine the degree to which gender moderates the relationship of stress and social support to strain. Subjects, 115 undergraduates, were administered a measure of stress, measures of functional and structural social support and satisfaction with social support, and a measure of physical symptomatology. Two testing sessions, 5 weeks apart, were included in the study so that the effects of stress and social support on subsequent strain could be evaluated. Results indicated that stress, social support, and their interaction accounted for 18% to 29% of the variance in physical symptomatology in women but accounted for nonsignificant amounts of variance in men. Gender differences in levels of support and differences in the predictive utility of different kinds of social support were also found.