The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

386 Chapter 10

Conclusions

I have reviewed a number of classes of expla-

nations for sex differences in morbidity and

mortality. Which has the greatest explanatory

power? A number of investigators have re-

viewed the literature and compared different

classes of explanations. Nearly two decades

ago, Verbrugge (1985) came to the conclu-

sion that sex differences in health behaviors

are a major—if not the major—cause of sex

differences in mortality. Courtenay (2000b)

certainly agreed; he compiled a list of 30 be-

haviors—ranging from diet, sleep, and sub-

stance abuse to weapon use—that are linked

to men’s greater mortality than women.

Health behaviors are limited in their

ability to explain sex differences in mor-

bidity (Verbrugge, 1989). Men have worse

health behaviors than women, yet women

have higher morbidity rates. When health

behaviors are taken into consideration, sex

differences in morbidity actually increase

(Verbrugge, 1985). Health behaviors also

cannot account in total for the sex differ-

ence in mortality. Men may smoke and drink

more than women, but women exercise less

and are more likely to be obese than men.

It may be that different classes of ex-

planations affect men’s and women’s health.

Denton and Walters (1999) argued that health

behaviors play a greater role in men’s health,

whereas social structural factors play a greater

role in women’s health. In terms of subjective

health status and physical functioning, behav-

ioral factors, such as smoking and drinking,

contribute to men’s poor health. Social struc-

tural factors, such as support from network

members and caretaking responsibilities, con-

tribute to women’s health. Support is an ad-

vantage, whereas caretaking responsibilities

are a disadvantage for women. Thus the class

of explanations that describe men’s health and

women’s health may differ.

TAKE HOME POINTS

■ One reason that women have higher morbidity rates

than men is that women are more likely than men to

adopt the sick role.

■ Women are more likely to adopt the sick role because illness

is more inconsistent with the male than the female gender

role and because women’s traditional social roles are more

flexible than those of men; in other words, women have

fewer “fixed role” obligations that provide them with time

to take care of themselves and seek help for symptoms.

■ Women’s lower mortality rates compared to those of

men could be explained by women seeking help for

symptoms, which may keep a minor illness from devel-

oping into a serious one.

■ The evidence that women and men respond differently

to symptoms, however, is not clear. Women may be

more likely than men to respond to minor symptoms,

but there are fewer sex differences in response to se-

vere symptoms. Yet, the sex difference in the time it

takes to seek help for symptoms of serious disease,

such as cancer and heart disease, is not clear.

DO GENDER 10.6

Responses to Symptoms

Develop a list of responses to illness. Your

list should include visiting a physician,

taking medication, and restricting activi-

ties. Ask 10 women and 10 men to recall

the last time they were ill and have them

indicate how they responded to their ill-

ness by checking the responses that ap-

ply from your list. Also, ask them to state

the nature of the illness or injury so you

can determine its severity. Do men and

women respond to illness in similar ways?

Do their responses depend on the severity

of the illness or symptom?

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