The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

526 Chapter 13

solved, but disadvantageous to the extent it implies

weakness and limits men’s feelings of control.

■ The female gender role can facilitate adjustment to

chronic illness by providing support resources but can

impede adjustment when physical attractiveness and

caregiving issues interfere with taking proper care of

oneself.

Eating Disorders

Princess Diana, Justine Bateman, Elton John,

Paula Abdul, Fiona Apple, Mary-Kate Olsen,

Oprah Winfrey, Ana Carolina Reston, Kirsten

Haglund—what do they all have in common?

They all have had eating disorders or distur-

bances. However, the outcomes are not all the

same. Ana Carolina Reston, a Brazilian model,

died in 2006 from the disorder. Kirsten Ha-

glund received the help that she needed and

went on to become Miss America in 2008.

Definitions and Prevalence

The three major eating disorders are an-

orexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge

eating disorder (National Institute of Mental

Health, 2007). Potentially 10 million females

and 1 million males in the United States

have anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa

and many more have binge eating disorder

(National Eating Disorders Association,

2005). Although the three disorders can be

clearly defined and distinguished from one

another, people can have degrees of any one

of them. In fact, various degrees of binge eat-

ing exist in the normal population.

Anorexia Nervosa. Of the three,an-

orexia nervosais the most life-threatening

eating disorder. The primary feature of this

disorder is the continual pursuit of thinness.

in favor of helping others. In a study of heart

disease, people who scored high on unmiti-

gated communion were less likely to adhere

to physicians’ recommended exercise regi-

mens (Fritz, 2000). A study of adolescents

with diabetes showed that those who scored

high on unmitigated communion had poor

control over their diabetes because they were

attending to the needs of others instead of

themselves (Helgeson & Fritz, 1996).

The female gender role is also impli-

cated in poor adjustment to illnesses that

involve alterations in physical appearance.

To the extent that concerns with appear-

ance override concerns with physical health,

the female gender role is a disadvantage. In

one study, adolescent females with diabetes

showed particular difficulties following a di-

abetic diet because of concerns with weight

and body image (Williams, 2000). Dieting

in the form of restricting food intake can be

very dangerous for people with diabetes.

Aspects of the female gender role may

facilitate adjustment to chronic illness. The

female gender role permits help seeking and

reliance on others for support. One aspect

of the female gender role, communion, has

been associated with the availability of social

support (Helgeson, 1994c). Thus the female

gender role can be adaptive in terms of ac-

quiring needed support resources.

TAKE HOME POINTS

■ Clear-cut sex differences in adjustment to chronic illness

are not apparent.

■ Gender provides an important framework within which

we can understand the issues that women and men

with a chronic illness face.

■ The male gender role is advantageous to the extent a

chronic illness is construed as a problem meant to be

M13_HELG0185_04_SE_C13.indd 526 6/21/11 12:55 PM