Discuss the relationship between gender and diagnosis of illness. Describe three factors that help explain differences in diagnosis rates between men and women.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Research reveals that women are diagnosed as suffering from more ill-health than men. Factors that help to explain this difference include the following.
Several factors explain women's higher rate of diagnosis. For instance, between the ages of 15-44 women are hospitalized at a higher rate than men, largely due to childbirth. Further, women go to the doctor more than men do, especially during their childbearing years when many have family planning needs and receive prenatal care. Women are also encouraged to have regular screenings for cervical cancer and breast cancer (Pap smears and mammograms, respectively).
Women are also over-represented in health statistics as a consequence of their caretaker roles for children, for other adults in the household, and for their extended families. Further, they are forced into sometimes unhealthy social roles with consequences like lower social status, longer work hours, persistently lower wages, unpaid work, greater social and emotional commitments, and fewer hours of sleep and leisure.
The final factor explaining the apparent high numbers of sick women is that women and men are socialized to experience and report their bodily sensations differently. Women are more likely to consult doctors based on how they feel, whereas men are more likely to avoid a consultation unless they have physical symptoms. It is for this reason that men are less likely to be diagnosed as suffering from stress or depression and more likely to be diagnosed as having a physical ailment.