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Psychology 320: Psychology of Gender and Sex Differences

Lecture 50

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Office Hour InvitationsMarch 1st, 1:30-2:30, Kenny 2517

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60748084

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73752099

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Achievement and Physical Health:

1. Are there sex differences in self-esteem? (continued)

2. Are there sex differences in mortality and morbidity?

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

1. review explanations for sex differences in global self-esteem.

3. define the term “morbidity paradox.”

2. identify sex differences in domain-specific forms of self-esteem.

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5. contrast sex differences in mortality rates in distinct regions of the world.

4. discuss sex differences in mortality rates across the life span among Canadians.

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• Explanations for the lower levels of global self-esteem among females than males:

1. Gender roles.

2. Imbalances in cross-sex interactions in childhood.

3. Differential treatment of boys and girls in school.

Are there sex differences in self-esteem? (continued)

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5. Pervasive violence against girls and women.

4. Differential athletic participation by boys and girls.

6. Cultural emphasis on appearance among females:

Body dissatisfaction is so common among females that it has been termed a “normative discontent” (Rodin et al., 1985).

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• Nevertheless, the relatively small sex difference in global self-esteem has led some theorists to caution against excessive focus upon it. This may:

2. Lead to self-fulfilling prophecies among females:

1. Result in neglect of the challenges to self-esteem that are experienced by boys and men.

Females obtain higher scores than males on some domain-specific forms of self-esteem:

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Domain-Specific Form of Self-Esteem

Effect Size

Athletic self-esteem .41

Appearance self-esteem .35Behaviour conduct self-esteem

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Moral-ethical self-esteem -.38

Effect Sizes for Domain-Specific Forms of Self-Esteem (Gentile et al., 2009)

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Are there sex differences in mortality and morbidity?

• Although males have higher mortality rates than females, females have higher morbidity rates than males.

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1. Mortality

More males are conceived than females: (100 females:120-160 males; Stillion, 1995).

However, birth rates (100 females:105 males) suggest that male fetuses are more likely to die than

female fetuses (Matthews & Hamilton, 2005).

After birth, death rates are higher for males than females at all ages, with the exception of >85 years.

Age Male Female Male:Female Death Ratio

1-4 1,146 909 1.26

5-14 271 202 1.34

15-24 1,652 651 2.54

25-34 1,845 821 2.25

35-44 3,617 2,167 1.67

45-54 8,482 5,511 1.54

55-64 14,829 9,384 1.58

65-74 22,753 15,805 1.44

75-84 35,649 32,941 1.08

> 85 24,898 44,533 .56

Annual Number of Deaths by Sex and Age (Statistics Canada, 2010)

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Consistent with these findings, the current and projected life expectancies of females in Canada and other “developed” countries exceed those of males:

Males Females

Life expectancy at birth in 2002

Life expectancy at birth in 2031

Current and Projected Life Expectancies for Males and Females in Canada

(Statistics Canada, 2010; World Factbook, 2012)

79.0 84.0

81.9 86.0

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Sex differences in life expectancy are more variable in “developing” countries than in developed countries.

Nevertheless, in the vast majority of countries, females outlive males:

Country Male Female Difference

Canada 79 84 5

US 76 81 5

Australia 79 84 5

New Zealand 79 83 4

France 78 84 6

Germany 76 82 6

Great Britain 77 82 5

Italy 79 85 6

Portugal 75 82 7

Bulgaria 70 78 8

Poland 72 80 8

Romania 71 78 7

Russia 60 73 13

Estimated Life Expectancies Around the World (World Factbook, 2009, 2012)

Country Male Female Difference

Cambodia 61 66 5

China 73 77 4

Philippines 69 75 6

Bangladesh 58 63 5

India 66 68 2

Nepal 65 68 3

Afghanistan 48 51 3

Iraq 69 72 3

Kuwait 76 79 3

Botswana 57 55 -2

Rwanda 57 60 3

Uganda 52 55 3

Zimbabwe 52 51 -1

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Achievement and Physical Health:

1. Are there sex differences in self-esteem? (continued)

2. Are there sex differences in mortality and morbidity?