BACKGROUND: Biological sex and sociocultural gender influence stress-related diseases. Our goal was to explore whether sex and gender roles would predict both allostatic load and physical complaints. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated whether sex- and gender-based factors would correspond to objective and subjective health outcomes. METHODS: Thirty Montreal workers (mean [SE] age, 45.4 [2.1] years) participated. The 30-item Bem Sex Role Inventory was administered to assess scores for masculinity and femininity, which were then transformed into an androgyny index representing gender roles along a continuum. Fifteen biomarkers representing neuroendocrine, immune, metabolic, and cardiovascular systems were aggregated into an allostatic load index measuring physiological dysregulations. The 42-item Wahler Physical Symptoms Inventory was used to measure self-rated physical complaints. RESULTS: Results using logistic and linear regressions controlling for age revealed that increased masculinity predicted inclusion in the high allostatic load group (P = 0.010; odds ratio = 0.715), and sex did not; increased masculinity and female sex together predicted increased physical complaints (P = 0.008; adjusted r(2)= 0.30); and high allostatic load group membership corresponded to increased physical complaints adjusted (P = 0.001; adjusted r(2) = 0.301). CONCLUSIONS: That higher masculinity was related to increased objective physiological dysregulations and subjective physical complaints suggests an increased vulnerability to hyperarousal pathologies, such as cardiovascular disease, among masculine-typed individuals.
BACKGROUND: Biological sex and sociocultural gender influence stress-related diseases. Our goal was to explore whether sex and gender roles would predict both allostatic load and physical complaints. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated whether sex- and gender-based factors would correspond to objective and subjective health outcomes. METHODS: Thirty Montreal workers (mean [SE] age, 45.4 [2.1] years) participated. The 30-item Bem Sex Role Inventory was administered to assess scores for masculinity and femininity, which were then transformed into an androgyny index representing gender roles along a continuum. Fifteen biomarkers representing neuroendocrine, immune, metabolic, and cardiovascular systems were aggregated into an allostatic load index measuring physiological dysregulations. The 42-item Wahler Physical Symptoms Inventory was used to measure self-rated physical complaints. RESULTS: Results using logistic and linear regressions controlling for age revealed that increased masculinity predicted inclusion in the high allostatic load group (P = 0.010; odds ratio = 0.715), and sex did not; increased masculinity and female sex together predicted increased physical complaints (P = 0.008; adjusted r(2)= 0.30); and high allostatic load group membership corresponded to increased physical complaints adjusted (P = 0.001; adjusted r(2) = 0.301). CONCLUSIONS: That higher masculinity was related to increased objective physiological dysregulations and subjective physical complaints suggests an increased vulnerability to hyperarousal pathologies, such as cardiovascular disease, among masculine-typed individuals.
Authors: Katrina L Kezios; Shakira F Suglia; David Matthew Doyle; Ezra Susser; Gary Bradwin; Piera Cirillo; Barbara Cohn; Bruce Link; Pam Factor-Litvak Journal: Psychoneuroendocrinology Date: 2022-02-12 Impact factor: 4.905
Authors: Sophie Horstmann; Corinna Schmechel; Kerstin Palm; Sabine Oertelt-Prigione; Gabriele Bolte Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2022-06-18 Impact factor: 4.614
Authors: Emmanuel Obeng-Gyasi; Alesia C Ferguson; Katherine A Stamatakis; Michael A Province Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2021-06-26 Impact factor: 3.390