The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Sex Differences in Health: Evidence and Explanations 357

likely to be diagnosed among women and

men in the no-stress condition but less likely

to be diagnosed among women than men

in the high-stress condition. In addition,

women and men in the no-stress condition

were equally likely to be referred to a cardiol-

ogist, but women were less likely than men to

be referred to a cardiologist in the high-stress

condition. Chiaramonte and Friend found

that symptoms of women in the high-stress

condition were less likely to be attributed to

a physiological cause compared to the symp-

toms of the targets in the other three condi-

tions. Thus, stress may distract physicians

from diagnosing heart disease in women.

Taken collectively, heart disease in

women may not be diagnosed as quickly as

it is in men because women’s signs of heart

disease are more ambiguous and because

health care professionals associate heart dis-

ease with being male rather than female. See

if the men and women with heart disease you

encounter have different experiences with

the health care system with Do Gender 10.1.

were more confident in assessing the male

than the female. When heart disease was di-

agnosed, physicians were the least confident

in diagnosing a younger female as shown in

Figure 10.2. Physicians were more likely to

diagnose mental health problems in younger

females compared to all other groups.

Women’s complaints of cardiac symp-

toms may be mistaken for signs of psycho-

logical distress. Because women are more

depressed than men, women’s symptoms

may more likely be interpreted as depres-

sion or anxiety. In fact, chest pain can sig-

nify stress and anxiety. When patients report

feelings of psychological distress along with

cardiac symptoms, the psychosocial com-

plaints may distract the physician from the

cardiac symptoms—at least when the patient

is female. In one study, medical students and

residents were provided with a vignette of

a person with clear cardiac symptoms (e.g.,

chest pain, shortness of breath) who was or

was not experiencing stress (Chiaramonte &

Friend, 2006). Women and men were treated

differently only under conditions of high

stress. Coronary heart disease was equally

DO GENDER 10.1

Women’s and Men’s

Experiences with Heart Problems

Interview 10 adult men and 10 adult women

who have had a heart problem, such as a

heart attack. Ask them what their symptoms

of the heart problem were, when they first

noticed symptoms, and how they responded

to those symptoms. How long did they wait

before going to the doctor? How did the

physician respond? Did the physician know

right away the symptoms were cardiac in na-

ture? How were they treated for their heart

problem? Are there any differences between

women’s and men’s responses?

FIGURE 10.2 Physicians were more certain

of coronary heart disease diagnoses in males than

females, and especially uncertain in the case of

younger females.

Source: Adapted from Maserejian et al. (2009).

Male Female

Age 55 Age 75 Age 55 Age 75

Certainty of CHD 10

0

20

40

60

50

70

30

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