Macintyre Sally, McKay Laura, Ellaway Anne
Medical Research Council Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, 4 Lilybank Gardens, Glasgow G12 8RZ, UK.
Int J Epidemiol. 2005 Apr;34(2):461-6. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyh333. Epub 2005 Feb 28.
Gender differences in health are commonly observed by epidemiologists. Little is known about lay beliefs concerning the gender patterning of common conditions.
Using the West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study, we analysed responses to a question in a postal questionnaire asking whether respondents thought men or women (or both equally) were more likely to have heart disease, cancer, mental illness, and accidents, to be fit, and to live longer. This question was answered by 466 females and 353 males, then aged 25, 45, and 65 yr.
Responses were in general in accord with epidemiological findings, but females had significantly lower odds than males of perceiving men as being at greater risk of accidents and heart disease, and higher odds than males of perceiving women as being at greater risk of mental illness.
There was a tendency for each gender to think risks were higher for their own sex than did the other gender. This observation needs further exploration, particularly in the light of the research showing 'optimistic bias' in relation to health, and research suggesting that socioeconomically disadvantaged people may be least likely to perceive socially structured health inequalities.
流行病学家普遍观察到健康方面的性别差异。对于常见疾病性别模式的大众观念却知之甚少。
利用苏格兰西部2007研究，我们分析了邮寄问卷调查中一个问题的回答，该问题询问受访者认为男性、女性（或两者同样）更易患心脏病、癌症、精神疾病和遭遇事故，更健康，以及寿命更长。466名女性和353名男性回答了这个问题，当时他们的年龄分别为25岁、45岁和65岁。
回答总体上与流行病学研究结果一致，但女性认为男性遭遇事故和患心脏病风险更高的几率显著低于男性，而认为女性患精神疾病风险更高的几率则高于男性。
每种性别都倾向于认为自己性别的风险高于另一性别。这一观察结果需要进一步探究，尤其是鉴于有研究显示在健康方面存在“乐观偏差”，以及有研究表明社会经济地位不利的人群可能最不可能意识到社会结构导致的健康不平等。
