Conclusions and Future Directions in Women’s Health 535diversity among women in the profession of psychology
(Kohout, 2001). The growing number of women entering
psychology overall, in addition to increases in women of
color, no doubt will in”uence research agendas and clinical
attention in the area of women•s health.
The growing number of women earning PhDs in psychol-
ogy has coincided with a 49% increase in the number of
grants submitted by women and a 92% increase in the num-
ber of grants awarded to women in psychology from 1988 to
- Since the 1970s, the percentage of articles with female
“rst authors published in psychology journals, including top-
tiered journals, has dramatically increased. In the “eld of
health psychology, for example, 19% of the articles pub-
lished in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine were “rst
authored by women when the journal was “rst published in
1978, compared to 48% in 1990. Women also are becoming
increasingly represented in editorial roles, with a female
currently serving as editor for 32% of the APA•s journals as
compared to 5% in the early 1980s. There is a similar trend
for associate editor positions (currently 37% female) as well
as consulting editor and reviewer positions (currently 34%
female) in APA journals (Kite et al., 2001).
Despite these advances, women in psychology face many
of the same challenges as women employed in health care.
One primary challenge that exists is the obtainment of senior
faculty positions in academia. While women constitute 39%
of the full-time faculty at four-year academic institutions,
30% of women achieve tenure compared to 53% of men
(American Psychological Association, 2000). The reasons for
this discrepancy must be evaluated and remediated.
Mentorship
The increasing number of women in health care and psychol-
ogy has a direct impact on the personal and professional de-
velopment of women pursuing undergraduate and advanced
degrees. While female mentors at senior levels may be dif“-
cult to “nd in academia, those female graduate students who
have the opportunity to work with female mentors bene“t
professionally as well as personally (Schlegel, 2000). As dis-
cussed throughout this chapter, women experience stressors
that are unique to those experienced by men. Having a female
mentor can help the female student navigate these stressors
and “nd an adaptive balance between her role as a profes-
sional and being a woman with many other life roles.
Research
Scant research prior to the 1990s included female samples
exclusively. This approach failed women because it was
assumed that either women•s physiological systems were the
same as males, or female hormones would confound re-
search, resulting in a strictly male sample. Despite the devel-
opment of organizations, such as the Of“ce of Research on
Women•s Health in 1990 and the NIH Revitalization Act of
1993 that required research supported by federal funds to
include women and individuals from diverse ethnic-racial
groups, advancements still are needed in women•s health
research.
Future research must strive to increase the inclusion of
women in clinical research trials and to focus on female sam-
ples when appropriate. Studies designed to further assess risk
factors and disease symptoms that may differ signi“cantly
from those of men, or those factors and symptoms that may
be exclusively found in women, must be conducted. For ex-
ample, as discussed earlier in this chapter, women continue to
be assessed for and diagnosed with heart disease based on
criteria researched on men. This has drawbacks in that symp-
toms considered atypical for men may be what are typical for
women, and without this knowledge, appropriate care for
women may be limited. In addition to further research focus-
ing on gender differences in risk factors, illness presentation
and course, and pharmacology and other treatments, more at-
tention and increased funding must be dedicated to disorders
that occur primarily in women, such as lupus and rheumatoid
arthritis. Furthermore, women cannot be categorized as a
homogenous population. For example, although morbidity
and mortality statistics provide evidence for ethnic-racial
disparity for various health conditions, adequate research
illuminating risk and other relevant factors is lacking. De-
spite statistics that show African American women living in
the United States have the fastest growing rates of HIV in-
fection, as well as poorer cancer-related health outcomes rel-
ative to European American women, research has failed to
reach out to women of color and gain their participation in
clinical trials (Killien et al., 2000). Women•s health research
must include representative samples of all women, including
neglected or hard-to-reach populations, such as women of
color, lesbians, women from lower socioeconomic back-
grounds, and the elderly. Cross-cultural investigations that
include women from various countries also are warranted.Why Women’s Health? Why Now?The need for research and clinical attention to women•s
health issues has always been present. However, only in the
past few decades have women•s health care needs, research,
and social and cultural issues been deemed important health
topics in both the clinical and research setting. Because
women are living longer than ever, the need for empirically