What is meant by the morbidity-mortality paradox and how we know it exists? Describe how both errors in self-report and gender role ideologies may or may not explain this paradox.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The morbidity-mortality paradox refers to the phenomenon in which women have higher rates of sickness but lower rates of death relative to men. This is supported by data showing men die at higher rates than women for nearly all of the top causes of death, however women tend to suffer from more chronic, debilitating conditions like arthritis and osteoporosis. One possible explanation for this phenomenon is that women are more likely to exaggerate their physical health afflictions than are men or, conversely, that social factors lead men to downplay their ill health. However, research investigating the links between sex, self-reported health, and chronic conditions finds that women’s poorer self-reported health is fully explained by their higher likelihood of suffering various chronic pain conditions--suggesting the morbidity gap is not due to women over-reporting illness. Among men, since fewer older men survive, outliving their male peers may cause older men to inflate their physical health. Others propose that women’s higher morbidity rates are due to women’s traditional role of serving as caretakers for others. Because being a caretaker can increase stress and make people vulnerable to various debilitating conditions and because taking care of others may reduce the likelihood of taking care of oneself, women may experience more conditions of chronic discomfort than men do. Thus traditional gender roles may produce higher levels of chronic illness among women despite their increased longevity relative to men.