PSYC706 mens health

What is the average life expectancy for males VS females?

4 years lower

can be worse in some countries - more highly developed countries 7 year gap

What was this gap in the year 1920?

1 year

What else is notable about mens health other than poor longevity?

men are also more likely not to seek help from and use health services

What is a biological explanation for this?

males biologically less robust (strong and healthy)

What evidence supports this?

males higher neonatal death rates than females (3.4 per 1,000 VS 2.5 per 1,000 in Australia). Also, men are twice as likely to develop and die from the ten most common cancers which affect both men and women. For instance, for congenital heart disease (CHD) which is the second highest cancer cause of death for both genders, men on average die at younger ages than women

Why might this be for cancer rates?

males biologically lacking estrogen, which provides a protective effect from CHD risk in women. Men are also significantly more likely to die from heart attacks, with 75% of all heart attacks in the USA of those aged 65 and under accounting for men. Estrogen also helps prevent heart attacks, corroborating the idea the lack of estrogen puts men at risk of heart-related issues

What is the view on testosterone?

has been theorized to explain the lower life expectancy and poor health behaviours of males, this link is situation-dependent and generally unfavourable. The view on this is that higher levels of testosterone in men can cause them to be more aggressive and partake in more risk-taking behaviour

What is risk-taking behaviour associated with?

higher rates of injuries, accidental deaths, and drug and alcohol use in men. For instance, men are several times more likely to die from car accidents, drownings, and all other external causes of death (excluding falls) compared to females. Also, in Auckland, 75% of intensive car admissions were men. However, the increase in risk-taking behaviour is generally believed to be more due to social rather than biological differences

What does the social explanation suggest about risk-taking?

Data suggests that this increase in death and injury due to risk-taking behaviour in men is directly associated with the level of exposure to high-risk activity. This means that men are more likely to die or injure themselves because they engage in high-risk activities more than females. This is believed to be due to gender role theory

Describe gender role theory

Gender roles in society posit males as naturally strong, unresponsive to pain and physical distress, dominant, and views emotional expression as a sign of weakness and femininity. This causes men to make gender-based choices about their activities where they can support the masculine stereotype of being strong

How does this apply to jobs?

men are more likely to work in physically demanding jobs which pose a hazardous risk to their health, to conform to the masculine stereotypes of being dominant and strong. Men are also reported to underestimate their risk for illness and injury compared to females, which could also explain why men choose to have more risky jobs

Gender roles and help-seeking behaviour

causes men to be less likely to seek help from health services because it would mean they are not conforming to social gender norms and being ‘weak’. A concern for one's health is generally positioned as a feminine characteristic amongst society

Describe hegemonic masculinity

society encourages men to engage in unhealthy behaviours

How does gender role theory apply to CHD risk?

encourages behaviours of unhealthy eating and drinking

Social pressure

Social pressure for men to financially provide for their families also places higher rates of stress on men and less time to take care of their health compared to women. This stress is also strongly associated with psychological struggles of depression and anxiety

Divorce

men are reported to be more negatively affected by divorce, as men are often not the ones initiating it and left unprepared, leading to higher rates of depression and overall worse physical health

Social isolation

Social isolation in men is also a concern as they have smaller social networks as they age, amplifying feelings of loneliness, which can also be exacerbated by higher rates of divorce

Body image

While there is a lot of research and talk of women’s negative body image, men too perceive themselves negatively and show discrepancies between their real bodies and ideal bodies. However, unlike women who wish to be smaller, men wish to be larger. This is strongly amplified by unrealistic beauty standards in the media. There is no evidence to suggest that women are more negatively affected by these beauty/body expectations. It is generally theorized that men are just better at concealing their body image concerns. This can be corroborated by the fact eating disorders are prevalent in men as well

Emotion expression

men are reported to dwell on negative emotions more than women, but express these less often, and if so, with few people and more casually. This supports the idea that men and women experience the same levels of emotion, but men are less expressive. However, other studies find that gender differences in expression are dependent on the type of emotion. For example, men are more likely to express feelings of power, control, anger, and jealously, whereas females are more likely to express fear and sadness. This aligns with gender role theory as men are more likely to express feelings which conform to the masculine stereotype

Mental health and suicide

men are four times more likely to die from suicide compared to women. This suggests that although women have higher diagnosis rates of depression, anxiety, etc., worldwide, this may be attributed to the fact men seek help less than women, so therefore, do not get diagnosed for mental health issues as much as women do. Therefore, mental health statistics may be equal between genders, if not higher for men. This adds to the concern of social stigma and masculine stereotypes being a significant barrier for men seeking help

Why else might men seek help less?

The fact that men are less likely to seek help suggests the possibility that maybe the current health approaches do not fit well for men, as women are the ones who most commonly utilize it. This is supported by the fact that men who do use health services are generally less satisfied than women and rate therapists less positively. Men’s health services which are tailored specifically to men are very rare, which in itself can discourage men from seeking services. Clinics that are suited to helping men are needed to bridge the gender gap disparity

SUD

Men also have higher rates of substance use disorders compared to women which is attributed to both increased risk-taking behaviour and men using drugs and alcohol as a common coping mechanism when faced with stress

Occuption

men are more likely to have physically demanding jobs which pose higher rates of hazardous risks compared to females. These jobs increase the chance of injuries, both directly and indirectly as increased stress can also lead to increased risk of injuries

SES

Men with a low socioeconomic status (SES) can also exacerbate their poor health-seeking behaviours as it provides even more barriers. Low SES is also correlated with higher stress levels and poorer nutrition which are also directly associated with poor health outcomes. Men with low SES also may be living in low-income areas which can be rural (far from health services in the city center), providing a geographical barrier to accessing health care and health-seeking behaviours as well

In conclusion, what does this overall say about mens health?

In conclusion, differences in health and illness are ‘gendered’ as men and women both act in ways which reflect and confine to society's gender role expectations. Men are generally more likely to engage in risk-taking and unhealthy behaviours and also less likely to engage in help-seeking behaviours, contributing to their poor longevity compared to females