Sex and Race in the Determinants of Psychophysical Distress: A Reappraisal of the Sex-Role Hypothesis

To explain zwmen's higher rates of psychological distress, researchers often argue that sex roles differentially expose the sexes to variables associated with distress or render zwmen and men unequally vulnerable to role-related stress. To test these claims, ut use National Center for Health Statistics data on physical symptoms of distress, collected during physical examinations for 6,672 adults. Using multiple regression, ur assess the independent effects of marital status, employment, occupation, income, and age. The sex-specific analyses reveal several significant race interactions but very few significant sex differences. We cannot reject the null hypothesis that men and uxmen are equally affected by paid employment. Rather, our results suggest that the sexes are differently exposed to sex-role related stress through different risks of disrupted marriages, unemployment and low income. Data from hospital admissions, psychiatric care, and community surveys indicate that married women's rates of psychological disress' exceed men's (Gove,a,b; Gove and Tudor,a,b; Pearlin; Radloff; Thoits; Tweed and Jackson; Warheit et al.; but see Dohrenwend and Dohrenwend,a,b, for a dissenting view). This difference might reflect either differential exposure or vulnerability (Kessler,b) to factors associated with emotional distress or an unequal propensity to report distress. Among unmarried women the difference is reversed (Gove,a; Radloff), so biological predisposition can*Earlier versions of this paper were read at the 1978 American Sociological Association meetings and at the Conference on the Future of the Family, University of Warsaw, Poland, December 1978. We are grateful to Michael R. Geerken, Walter Gove, Lowell L. Hargens, Karen Miller, and anonymous referees for helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper, and to Carolyn Muffins for editorial assistance. We are, of course, responsible for any errors. This research was supported in part by an Indiana University Faculty Grant-in-Aid. Address correspondence to Barbara E Reskin, Department of Sociology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1382.

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