IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v65y2007i3p493-504.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How might we understand men's health better? Integrating explanations from critical studies on men and inequalities in health

Author

Listed:
  • Lohan, Maria

Abstract

For researchers interested in understanding men's health, there are two main literatures to harvest. The first is research on men's health arising from the study of men and masculinities. The second is the broader study of inequalities in health, including gender inequalities in health. However, these literatures have remained distinct. This paper seeks to develop a model of understanding men's health from both of these literatures. In order to achieve this integration, this paper argues that studies of men's health should be based on 'critical studies on men' which emerges from feminist theory. Critical studies on men's health is then integrated into the broader explanatory options identified in the health inequality literature in order to provide a more fulsome account of variance within men's health and between the health status of men and women. Given the amenability of men's health issues to interrogation within this resulting framework, it is argued that the inequalities literature should start to include men's health issues in its work.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:65:y:2007:i:3:p:493-504
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277-9536(07)00221-3
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    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. Lynch, J. W. & Kaplan, G. A. & Salonen, J. T., 1997. "Why do poor people behave poorly? Variation in adult health behaviours and psychosocial characteristics by stages of the socioeconomic lifecourse," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 809-819, March.
    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. Smith, G.D. & Wentworth, D. & Neaton, J.D. & Stamler, R. & Stamler, J., 1996. "Socioeconomic differentials in mortality risk among men screened for the multiple risk factor intervention trial: II. Black men," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 86(4), pages 497-504.
    4. Arber, Sara & Cooper, Helen, 1999. "Gender differences in health in later life: the new paradox?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 61-76, January.
    5. Smith, G.D. & Neaton, J.D. & Wentworth, D. & Stamler, R. & Stamler, J., 1996. "Socioeconomic differentials in mortality risk among men screened for the multiple risk factor intervention trial: I. White men," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 86(4), pages 486-496.
    6. Bird, Chloe E. & Rieker, Patricia P., 1999. "Gender matters: an integrated model for understanding men's and women's health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(6), pages 745-755, March.
    7. 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.
    8. Prättälä, R. & Karisto, A. & Berg, M-A., 1994. "Consistency and variation in unhealthy behaviour among Finnish men, 1982-1990," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 115-122, July.
    9. Pearce, N. & Davey Smith, G., 2003. "Is social capital the key to inequalities in health?," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(1), pages 122-129.
    10. Macintyre, Sally, 1997. "The black report and beyond what are the issues?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 723-745, March.
    11. Bernard Gazier & Jean - Philippe Touffut, 2006. "Introduction. Bien public, bien social," Post-Print halshs-00270232, HAL.
    12. O'Brien, Rosaleen & Hunt, Kate & Hart, Graham, 2005. "'It's caveman stuff, but that is to a certain extent how guys still operate': men's accounts of masculinity and help seeking," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 503-516, August.
    13. Matthews, Sharon & Manor, Orly & Power, Chris, 1999. "Social inequalities in health: are there gender differences?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 49-60, January.
    14. Graham, Hilary, 2002. "Building an inter-disciplinary science of health inequalities: the example of lifecourse research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(11), pages 2005-2016, December.
    15. Emslie, Carol & Hunt, Kate & Macintyre, Sally, 1999. "Problematizing gender, work and health: the relationship between gender, occupational grade, working conditions and minor morbidity in full-time bank employees," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 33-48, January.
    16. Marmot, Michael & Ryff, Carol D. & Bumpass, Larry L. & Shipley, Martin & Marks, Nadine F., 1997. "Social inequalities in health: Next questions and converging evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 901-910, March.
    17. Waldron, Ingrid, 1993. "Recent trends in sex mortality ratios for adults in developed countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 451-462, February.
    18. Tsuchiya, Aki & Williams, Alan, 2005. "A "fair innings" between the sexes: are men being treated inequitably?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 277-286, January.
    19. Hraba, Joseph & Lorenz, Frederick & Lee, Gang & Pechacová, Zdenka, 1996. "Gender differences in health: Evidence from the Czech Republic," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 43(10), pages 1443-1451, November.
    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. Mróz, Lawrence William & Chapman, Gwen E. & Oliffe, John L. & Bottorff, Joan L., 2011. "Gender relations, prostate cancer and diet: Re-inscribing hetero-normative food practices," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(9), pages 1499-1506, May.
    2. Cleary, Anne, 2012. "Suicidal action, emotional expression, and the performance of masculinities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(4), pages 498-505.
    3. Oliffe, John L. & Ogrodniczuk, John S. & Bottorff, Joan L. & Johnson, Joy L. & Hoyak, Kristy, 2012. "“You feel like you can’t live anymore”: Suicide from the perspectives of Canadian men who experience depression," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(4), pages 506-514.
    4. Malmusi, Davide & Borrell, Carme & Benach, Joan, 2010. "Migration-related health inequalities: Showing the complex interactions between gender, social class and place of origin," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(9), pages 1610-1619, November.
    5. John Garry & Maria Lohan, 2011. "Mispredicting Happiness Across the Adult Lifespan: Implications for the Risky Health Behaviour of Young People," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 41-49, March.
    6. Ann Jacobsson & Susann Backteman Erlanson & Christine Brulin & Annika Egan Sjolander, 2020. "Promoting and Hindering Health and Well-Being in Firefighter Discourse," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, December.
    7. 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.
    8. Terry Peak & Julie A. Gast, 2014. "Aging Men’s Health-Related Behaviors," SAGE Open, , vol. 4(4), pages 21582440145, November.
    9. Deeney, Kathleen & Lohan, Maria & Spence, Dale & Parkes, Jackie, 2012. "Experiences of fathering a baby admitted to neonatal intensive care: A critical gender analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(6), pages 1106-1113.

    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. Rainham, Daniel, 2007. "Do differences in health make a difference? A review for health policymakers," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(2-3), pages 123-132, December.
    2. Chen, Duan-Rung & Chang, Ly-Yun & Yang, Meng-Li, 2008. "Gender-specific responses to social determinants associated with self-perceived health in Taiwan: A multilevel approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(10), pages 1630-1640, November.
    3. Kjellsson, Sara, 2018. "," Working Paper Series 2/2018, Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research.
    4. Emslie, Carol & Hunt, Kate, 2008. "The weaker sex? Exploring lay understandings of gender differences in life expectancy: A qualitative study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 808-816, September.
    5. 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.
    6. Kim, Jae-Hyun & Lee, Sang Gyu & Shin, Jaeyong & Park, Eun-Cheol, 2014. "Impact of the gap between socioeconomic stratum and subjective social class on depressive symptoms: Unique insights from a longitudinal analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 49-56.
    7. Laurent Chenet & David Leon & Martin Mckee & Serguei Vassin, 1998. "Deaths from Alcohol and Violence in Moscow: Socio-economic Determinants," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 14(1), pages 19-37, March.
    8. 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.
    9. Megan Teychenne & Kylie Ball & Jo Salmon, 2012. "Educational Inequalities in Women’s Depressive Symptoms: The Mediating Role of Perceived Neighbourhood Characteristics," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-13, November.
    10. Dona Ghosh & Jaydeep Sengupta & Aviral Kumar Tiwari, 2020. "Revisiting the Role of Gender in Health Taxonomy: Evidence from the Elderly in India," Advances in Decision Sciences, Asia University, Taiwan, vol. 24(2), pages 104-133, June.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. Green, Gill & Emslie, Carol & O'Neill, Dan & Hunt, Kate & Walker, Steven, 2010. "Exploring the ambiguities of masculinity in accounts of emotional distress in the military among young ex-servicemen," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(8), pages 1480-1488, October.
    14. Roy, Kakoli & Chaudhuri, Anoshua, 2008. "Influence of socioeconomic status, wealth and financial empowerment on gender differences in health and healthcare utilization in later life: evidence from India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(9), pages 1951-1962, May.
    15. Balia, Silvia & Jones, Andrew M., 2008. "Mortality, lifestyle and socio-economic status," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 1-26, January.
    16. McGrath, Jennifer J. & Matthews, Karen A. & Brady, Sonya S., 2006. "Individual versus neighborhood socioeconomic status and race as predictors of adolescent ambulatory blood pressure and heart rate," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(6), pages 1442-1453, September.
    17. S.A. Drakopoulos & E. Lakioti & I. Theodossiou, 2011. "Childhood socioeconomic deprivation and later adulthood health," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 38(1), pages 23-38, January.
    18. Jennifer Boyd & Clare Bambra & Robin C. Purshouse & John Holmes, 2021. "Beyond Behaviour: How Health Inequality Theory Can Enhance Our Understanding of the ‘Alcohol-Harm Paradox’," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-12, June.
    19. Buttenheim, Alison & Goldman, Noreen & Pebley, Anne R. & Wong, Rebeca & Chung, Chang, 2010. "Do Mexican immigrants "import" social gradients in health to the US?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(7), pages 1268-1276, October.
    20. Levin, Kate A. & Leyland, Alastair H., 2006. "A comparison of health inequalities in urban and rural Scotland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(6), pages 1457-1464, March.

    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:65:y:2007:i:3:p:493-504. 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.