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Sanchez, associate professor of psychology from Rutgers University in New Jersey, and doctoral student Mary Himmelstein conducted research into why there is this discrepancy between men's and women's health.
sults showed that men who had "traditional beliefs" about masculinity were more likely to put off dealing with medical problems, compared with women or men with less traditional beliefs.
"Traditional masculine beliefs" included those that men should be "tough, brave, self-reliant and restrained in their expression of emotion."
Sanchez and Himmelstein found that the higher the men scored on the masculinity scale, the more likely they were to choose a male "doctor."
Interestingly, the men who chose a male doctor, however, were less likely to be open with that doctor about their health symptoms.
"That's because they don't want to show weakness or dependence to another man, including a male doctor," says Sanchez. The men who chose female doctors were more likely to be honest with them, and Sanchez theorizes this is because being honest about their vulnerabilities does not cause them to "lose status" with women.
Category(s):Men's Issues
Source material from Preventive Medicine
