Gender roles and traits in stress and health.

Eric Mayor

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00779

Abstract

Women have a life-expectancy advantage over men, but a marked disadvantage with regards to morbidity. This is known as the female–male health-survival paradox in disciplines such as medicine, medical sociology, and epidemiology. Individual differences in physical and mental health are further notably explained by the degree of stress individuals endure, with women being more affected by stressors than men. Here, we briefly examine the literature on women’s disadvantage in health and stress. Beyond biological considerations, we follow with socio-cognitive explanations of gender differences in health and stress. We show that gender roles and traits (masculinity in particular) explain part of the gender differences in stress, notably cognitive appraisal and coping. Stress in turn degrades health. Implications are discussed. In conclusion, traditional socialization is advantageous for men in terms of health.

Highlights

Women endure higher rates of physical and mental diseases than men at all ages and in all regions of the world (Macintyre et al, 1996; Austad, 2006; Seedat et al, 2009)
As stress impacts health considerably, we focus on gender differences in stress and their explanations
As health declines with age, gender differences in health might be higher than those reported in overall estimates

Summary

Eric Mayor*

Institut de Psychologie du Travail et des Organisations, Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Reviewed by: Sarah Whittle, The University of Melbourne, Australia Nicholas A. Women have a life-expectancy advantage over men, but a marked disadvantage with regards to morbidity. This is known as the female–male health-survival paradox in disciplines such as medicine, medical sociology, and epidemiology. Individual differences in physical and mental health are further notably explained by the degree of stress individuals endure, with women being more affected by stressors than men. We show that gender roles and traits (masculinity in particular) explain part of the gender differences in stress, notably cognitive appraisal and coping. Traditional socialization is advantageous for men in terms of health

Introduction

Magnitude of Gender Differences in Health

The Impact of the Environment

Findings

Discussion and Conclusion