Sex Roles and Societal Reactions to Mental Illness: The Labeling of "Deviant" Deviance

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of patients' sexual status on decisions for psychiatric hospitalization. There are conflicting perspectives on whether males or females receive a more severe societal reaction in general for residual deviance. It is proposed, instead, that both males and females receive a more severe societal reaction when the deviant behavior is inconsistent with traditional sex role norms. The findings support this prediction. Men are more likely than women to be hospitalized for neurosis and depression. Women are more likely than men to be hospitalized for personality disorders and substance abuse.