Gender and Health

Abstract

Research has found diferences between women and men in some health indicators. Women's life expectancy is higher than men's, but research on diferences in morbidity has proved less consistent than on the diferences in mortality. These diferences vary in terms of the type of health indicator used, the life cycle period analyzed, and even the country where research is conducted. Generally, men have more life-threatening chronic diseases at younger ages, including coronary heart disease, as well as more externalizing mental health problems and substance use disorders. Women present higher rates of chronic debilitating conditions such as arthritis, frequent or severe headaches, gallbladder conditions, and also more internalizing mental problems such as afective and anxiety disorders. Results of research on the diferences between women and men in self-rated health have also highlighted the complexity of gender diferences in health. "lthough several studies have shown that women have poorer self-rated health than men, this is not the case in all countries. "lso, diferences in self-rated health vary depending on other psychosocial and demographic variables. The present study reviews the main diferences in women's and men's health as well as the most relevant factors that may account for them.Keywords: gender, physical health, mental health, self-rated health, well-being, masculinity, femininity . IntroductionThe existence of gender diferences in health, and the reason for such diferences, is a complex issue whose research and explanations are not bias-free. Studies conducted in several countries have revealed diferences between women and men in some health indicators. In spite of the fact that women's life expectancy is higher than men's, it has been traditionally believed that women had poorer health, and higher morbidity and incapacity rates than men, and used © 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.© 2017 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.health services much more often than men. "s proposed by Lahelma et al. [1], such a belief was so much deep-seated that no further explanation was required. However, the research conducted from the 1990s onwards has questioned such a belief and has shown the complexity of gender diferences in health [2], whose presence, magnitude, and/or direction depend on, among other variables, the health indicator used, stage of life span development, and even the country where the study is conducted. "esides, women and men show a high intra-group variability, and there exist signiican...

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