Gender Differences in Adolescent Health Concerns and Self-Assessed Health

Abstract

Gender has been shown to be an important variable in studies of health status and illness behaviors of adults. This study of 745 rural eight grade students examined gender differences in the reported health concerns, self-assessed health status, and illness behaviors of young adolescents. A 28-item health concern inventory was used to measure emotional, social, physical, and drug-related health concerns. For girls, emotional and social concerns were highly associated with poorer perceived health, while for boys, physical concerns differentiated those in fair or poor health from those who saw themselves as healthy. Physical concerns were significantly associated with reported school absenteeism due to illness, attendance of school when ill, and physician visits for both boys and girls. Emotional concerns were related to greater numbers of school days missed or days attended when ill for girls but not for boys.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Brunswick, A. , & Josephson, E. (1972). Adolescent health in Harlem, American Journal of Public Health, 62 (Suppl., October), 1-62.

Burbach, D. , & Peterson, L. (1986). Children's concepts of physical illness: A review and critique of the cognitive-developmental literature. Health Psychology., 5, 307-325.

Cleary, P. , Mechanic, D. , & Greenly, J. (1982). Sex differences in medical care utilization: An empirical investigation. Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 23, 106-118.

Feldman, W. , Hodgson, C. , Corber, S. , & Quinn, A. (1986). Health concerns and health-related behaviours of adolescents. Canada Medical Association Journal, 134, 489-494.

Gordon, G. (1966). Role theory and illness, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Gove, W. , & Hughes, M. (1979). Possible causes of the apparent sex differences in physical health: An empirical investigation. American Sociological Review, 44, 126-146.

Gove, W. , & Tudor, J. (1973). Adult sex roles and mental illness. American Journal of Sociology, 78, 812-835.

House, E. , Durfee, M. , & Bryan, C. (1979). A survey of psychological and social concerns of rural adolescents. Adolescence, 54, 361-376.

Mechanic, D. (1980). The experience and reporting of common physical complaints. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 21, 146-155.

10.

Mechanic, D. (1983). Adolescent health and illness behavior: Review of the literature and a new hypothesis for the study of stress. Journal of Human Stress, 9, 57-62.

11.

Millstein, S. G. , & Irwin, C. E., Jr. (1987). Concepts of health and illness: Different constructs or variations on a theme? Health Psychology, 6 (6), 515-524.

12.

Nathanson, C. (1975). Illness and the feminine role: A theoretical review. Social Science and Medicine, 9, 57-62.

13.

Nathanson, C. (1977). Sex, illness, and medical care: A review of data, theory, and method. Social Science and Medicine, 1i, 13-25.

14.

National Center for Health Statistics . (1980). Current estimates for National Health Interview Survey: United States, 1979 (Vital and Health Statistics, Series 10, No. 136). Washington DC: U. S. Government Printing Office.

15.

Parcel, G. , Nader, P. , & Meyer, M. (1977). Adolescent health concerns, problems and patterns of utilization of a triethnic urban population. Pediatrics, 60 157-164.

16.

Radius, S. , Dilman, T. , Becker, M. , Rosenstock, I. , & Horvath, W. (1980). Adolescent perspectives on health and illness. Adolescence, 58, 375-384.

17.

Sobal, J. , Klein, H. , Graham, D. , & Black, J. (1988). Health concerns of high school students, and teachers' beliefs about student health concerns. Pediatrics, 81, 218-223.

18.

SPSS, Inc. SPSS-X user's guide (3rd ed.). Chicago, IL (1988). Author.

19.

Tanner, J. (1962). Growth of adolescence: Springfield, IL: Thomas Press.

20.

Tessler, R. , & Mechanic, D. (1978). Psychological distress and perceived health status. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 19, 254-262.

21.

Verbrugge, L. (1976). Females and illness: Recent trends in sex differences in the United States. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 17, 387-403.

22.

Walker, D. , Cross, A. , Heyman, P. , Ruch-Ross, H. , Benson, P. , & Tuttill, J. (1982). Comparisons between inner-city and private school adolescents' perceptions of health problems. Journal of Adolescent Health Care, 3, 82-90.

23.

Ware, J. (1986). The assessments of health status. In L. Aiken & D. Mechanic (Eds.), Applications of Social Science to Clinical Medicine and Social Policy (pp. 204-228). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

24.

Zborowski, M. (1969). People in pain. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

25.

Zola, I. K. (1966). Culture and symptoms: An analysis of patients presenting complaints. American Sociological Review, 31, 615-630.