374 Chapter 10■ The increase in obesity in the United States is now
considered an epidemic. Women have higher rates of
obesity than men among African Americans and Hispan-
ics, but the same rate among Whites.
■ There are socioeconomic and cultural explanations for
ethnic differences in obesity. Black and Hispanic groups
have lower incomes, and low income is generally as-
sociated with obesity. Culturally, however, being thin is
not as valued among the African American as the White
community.
■ Physical activity is related to health in general, including
obesity. The decline in physical activity is one contribu-
tor to the increase in obesity.
■ Television, video games, and computers have been
linked to both the decline in physical activity and the
increase in obesity.
■ Boys are more active than girls, but the sex difference
has decreased in recent years as athletics have become
more available to girls.Men’s and Women’s Social Roles
If gender roles contribute to sex differences
in health, fewer sex differences should ex-
ist when roles are more similar. Two older,
now classic, studies have tested this hypoth-
esis. First, Leviatan and Cohen (1985) stud-
ied men and women on a kibbutz where
their roles were more equal. A kibbutz is a
community in Israel characterized by a col-
lective lifestyle whereby everyone contrib-
utes to the welfare of the community. On a
kibbutz, there is equal access to health care,
all men and women work inside and out-
side of the home, and all participate in com-
munity decisions. However, roles are not
perfectly equal even on a kibbutz. It is still
true that women tend to take care of house-
hold chores more than men, and the kindsbehavior among girls. A study of college
women found that those who participated in
team sports during high school engaged in
less sexual risk taking and had better sexual
and reproductive health (Lehman & Koerner,
2004). A sense of empowerment appeared to
explain these relations.TAKE HOME POINTS
■ Women practice better preventive health care than men
by watching their diet and visiting the physician on a
regular basis. Reproductive issues do not account for
this sex difference.
■ Smoking is the health behavior that can be most
strongly tied to the leading causes of death, and smok-
ing contributes greatly to sex differences in mortality.
■ Among adults, men smoke more than women but are
quitting at higher rates; among children and adoles-
cents, sex differences in smoking are smaller.
■ Lung cancer is the best illustration of how changes in
smoking have influenced changes in mortality rates.
Men smoke more than women, have higher rates
of lung cancer than women, and die younger than
women. However, more men also have quit smoking,
and women’s rates of smoking have not decreased to
the extent that men’s have, resulting in an increase in
lung cancer among women and a reduction in the sex
difference in longevity.
■ There are a variety of reasons why women have more
difficulty with smoking cessation compared to men:
links of smoking to depression, greater physiological
addiction in women (a hotly debated issue), and a con-
cern with weight gain after smoking cessation.
■ Men drink more than women, but the same amount
of alcohol per body weight has more hazardous health
consequences for women than men.
■ Men use more drugs than women, and the sex differ-
ence increases with age during adolescence.M10_HELG0185_04_SE_C10.indd 374 6/21/11 8:54 AM