<p>As a result of the growing number of long-term survivors, in addition to the somatic sequelae of the cancerous disease the psychosocial burdens are increasingly becoming a focus of oncological treatment. In this respect, sex-specific differences can be found in the experience of distress and coping with these burdens. Women report distress more frequently than men and also a higher level of distress. There are various biological and psychosocial factors that provide possible explanations for the sex-specific dynamics of coping with stress as well as instrumental and reporting biases. Furthermore, they differentiate areas of life that are perceived as particularly burdensome and influencing factors for experiencing distress; however, men and women do not appear to have different courses of distress in the early phase of cancer survivorship. A sex-specific way of dealing with disease-related burdens independent of the cancer diagnosis can often be recognized. Women utilize a larger set of coping styles and rely more heavily on emotion-related approaches; they search for proactive support in the social environment and ask essential questions. Men tend towards a problem-oriented coping and more frequently use forms, such as humor or fatalism. These specific aspects should be taken into consideration in the psychosocial care.</p>