Gender, Sex and Public Health

Dear Colleagues,

Gender shapes the physical and mental health of populations in multiple ways. Differential exposure and differential vulnerability are two main hypotheses that have explained how gender impacts individuals’ health. According to the differential exposure hypothesis, men and women differ in the exposure to a wide range of risk and protective factors that ultimately influence health of populations. In this view, differential distribution of risk and protective factors mediate gender differences in health. According to the differential vulnerability hypothesis, gender shapes the vulnerability and resilience of populations to the very same risk or protective factor. Based on this hypothesis, the effects of risk and protective factors are not similar for men and women. The story is quite complicated. Gender correlates with  stress and socioeconomic status (SES). Women have a higher awareness of their symptoms, and better share their health problems. For some outcomes, gender interacts with SES, and for some other outcomes, SES mediates the effect of gender on health. The social and psychological correlates of gender also vary across geographic regions, populations, settings, and cohorts. For instance, cross-country variations exist in the role of gender, as well as mechanisms by which gender impacts health. In some countries, gender is linked to more hegemonic masculine ideologies and other gender roles and norms. In industrial countries such as the United States, men and women are more equal than in many developing countries. Thus, gender norms may be more salient in southern and rural regions than northern and urban areas. However, even in the United States, education, employment, and marital status may not have the same effect on the health of men and women. Finally, gender interacts with race and ethnicity, and the life status of Black men is very different from that of other races by gender groups, including Black women. The findings have considerable implications for research, policy, and practice. Results may reduce gender disparities in health by discovering new mechanisms and interventions that have implications for reducing gender gaps in health. Some findings may advocate for tailoring policies, programs, and interventions based on gender. Such tailored interventions and programs that address specific needs of men and women may have higher efficacy than universal programs that ignore the major gender differences in the mechanisms that shape health and illness. This Special Issue invites state-of-the-art original and review articles on public health topics related to gender. Potential papers of interest include:

• Studies testing differential exposure or differential vulnerability;
• Studies testing additive and multiplicative effects;
• Studies that compare cross-county and cross-regional differences;
• Studies that report mediators or moderators of gender gap in health;
• Studies on tailored interventions for men or women;
• Studies using a national sample, using longitudinal design, or advanced modeling;
• Studies using an intersectionality approaches;
• Studies on measurement and methodology.

Dr. Shervin Assari
Guest Editor

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