The Effect of Sex Role Differences on the Social Control of Mental Illness

Abstract

It is argued that, as compared to females, the role expectations for males are less tolerant of the behavior associated with mental illness, and the mentally ill males will experience a more prompt and severe reaction than mentally ill females. A large body of literature and national data on treatment indicates that psychotic males are channelled into psychiatric treatment more promptly and tend to have a longer stay in mental hospitals than psychotic females. In contrast, neurotic males andfemales, whose treatment is almost always self-initiated, tend to enter treatment at the same time; however, once in treatment neurotic males tend to experience a more prolonged hospitalization. These relationships run counter to one of labelling theory's basic propositions, namely that persons of low status and little power are more likely to be labelled deviant, while at the same time they demonstrate that socialfactors play an important role in determining how deviant behavior is reacted to.