IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v252y2020ics0277953620301386.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender inequalities in poor self-rated health: Cross-national comparison of South Korea and Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Takahashi, Shuko
  • Jang, Soong-nang
  • Kino, Shiho
  • Kawachi, Ichiro

Abstract

Japan and South Korea represent “outliers” among rich nations with regard to having achieved high life expectancy but also ranking near the bottom on United Nations indices of gender equality. In the present study, we compared gender inequalities in self-rated health (SRH) across the life course captured in nationally representative surveys from South Korea and Japan. Our comparative analysis focused on the following questions, (1) Do Japan and South Korea exhibit similar patterns of gender inequalities in health as found in western settings (e.g. the “gender paradox” whereby women enjoy longer life expectancy, but worseself-rated health compared to men)? (2) Can gender differences in educational attainment and income account for gender differences in health in Japan & Korea? (3) Do gender inequalities in self-rated health differ over the life-course in Japan compared to South Korea?

Suggested Citation

  • Takahashi, Shuko & Jang, Soong-nang & Kino, Shiho & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2020. "Gender inequalities in poor self-rated health: Cross-national comparison of South Korea and Japan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:252:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620301386
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112919
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953620301386
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112919?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pinillos-Franco, Sara & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2018. "The relationship between social capital and self-rated health: A gendered analysis of 17 European countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 30-35.
    2. Courtenay, Will H., 2000. "Constructions of masculinity and their influence on men's well-being: a theory of gender and health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 50(10), pages 1385-1401, May.
    3. Chun, Heeran & Khang, Young-Ho & Kim, Il-Ho & Cho, Sung-Il, 2008. "Explaining gender differences in ill-health in South Korea: The roles of socio-structural, psychosocial, and behavioral factors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(6), pages 988-1001, September.
    4. Kawachi, Ichiro & Kennedy, Bruce P. & Gupta, Vanita & Prothrow-Stith, Deborah, 1999. "Women's status and the health of women and men: a view from the States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 21-32, January.
    5. Rong Fu & Haruko Noguchi, 2016. "Does Marriage Make Us Healthier? Inter-Country Comparative Evidence from China, Japan, and Korea," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(2), pages 1-15, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nguyen, Canh Phuc, 2022. "Uncertainty and gender inequality: A global investigation," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 31-47.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dahlin, Johanna & Härkönen, Juho, 2013. "Cross-national differences in the gender gap in subjective health in Europe: Does country-level gender equality matter?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 24-28.
    2. Backhans, Mona C. & Lundberg, Michael & Månsdotter, Anna, 2007. "Does increased gender equality lead to a convergence of health outcomes for men and women? A study of Swedish municipalities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(9), pages 1892-1903, May.
    3. Mansdotter, Anna & Lindholm, Lars & Ohman, Ann, 2004. "Women, men and public health--how the choice of normative theory affects resource allocation," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 351-364, September.
    4. Lohan, Maria, 2007. "How might we understand men's health better? Integrating explanations from critical studies on men and inequalities in health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 493-504, August.
    5. Homan, Patricia, 2024. "Health consequences of structural sexism: Conceptual foundations, empirical evidence and priorities for future research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 351(S1).
    6. Backhans, Mona Christina & Burström, Bo & Lindholm, Lars & Månsdotter, Anna, 2009. "Pioneers and laggards - Is the effect of gender equality on health dependent on context?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(8), pages 1388-1395, April.
    7. Sánchez-Sandoval, Yolanda & Aragón, Claudia & Verdugo, Laura, 2022. "Future expectations of adolescents in Residential Care: The role of self-perceptions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    8. Pollitt, Amanda M. & Donnelly, Rachel & Mernitz, Sara E. & Umberson, Debra, 2020. "Differences in how spouses influence each other's alcohol use in same- and different-sex marriages: A daily diary study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    9. Melander, Stina, 2023. "Different logics of pain: the gendered dimension of chronic pain in a relational setting," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 335(C).
    10. Wiklund, Maria & Bengs, Carita & Malmgren-Olsson, Eva-Britt & Öhman, Ann, 2010. "Young women facing multiple and intersecting stressors of modernity, gender orders and youth," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(9), pages 1567-1575, November.
    11. Nobles, Jenna & Brown, Ryan & Catalano, Ralph, 2010. "National independence, women's political participation, and life expectancy in Norway," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(9), pages 1350-1357, May.
    12. Parker, Rhiannon & Larkin, Theresa & Cockburn, Jon, 2017. "A visual analysis of gender bias in contemporary anatomy textbooks," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 106-113.
    13. Michelle Calvarese, 2015. "The Effect of Gender on Stress Factors: An Exploratory Study among University Students," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-8, November.
    14. Oliffe, John, 2005. "Constructions of masculinity following prostatectomy-induced impotence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(10), pages 2249-2259, May.
    15. Madsen, Julian & Jobson, Laura & Slewa-Younan, Shameran & Li, Haoxiang & King, Kylie, 2024. "Mental health literacy among Arab men living in high-income Western countries: A systematic review and narrative synthesis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).
    16. Hatcher, Abigail M. & Gibbs, Andrew & McBride, Ruari-Santiago & Rebombo, Dumisani & Khumalo, Mzwakhe & Christofides, Nicola J., 2022. "Gendered syndemic of intimate partner violence, alcohol misuse, and HIV risk among peri-urban, heterosexual men in South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    17. Månsdotter, Anna & Lundin, Andreas, 2010. "How do masculinity, paternity leave, and mortality associate? -A study of fathers in the Swedish parental & child cohort of 1988/89," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 576-583, August.
    18. Song, Kyungeun & Lee, Min-Ah & Kim, Jinho, 2024. "Double jeopardy: Exploring the moderating effect of educational mismatch in the relationship between work-family conflict and depressive symptoms among Korean working women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    19. Jiafeng Gu & Ruiyu Zhu, 2020. "Social Capital and Self-Rated Health: Empirical Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-15, December.
    20. Kazuma Sato, 2020. "Does marriage improve subjective health in Japan?," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 71(2), pages 247-286, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:252:y:2020:i:c:s0277953620301386. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.