Do women exaggerate health problems?
Although women live longer than men in developed countries, it is frequently observed they tend to be sicker than men, in that they report higher rates of illness, disability and healthcare use. One common explanation for this is that there are differences between male and females in terms of the way they perceive, evaluate and act upon symptoms of ill health. This project compared men’s and women’s answers to a commonly used question about long-term illness and to a series of more specific prompts about their health, and measured severity of symptoms experienced. A common expectation is that women report higher rates of illness and are more ready to tell us about their mental health problems. We found no difference between the proportion of men and women reporting long-term illness in response to the initial question. However, it was men rather than women who reported more health problems when prompted, and we found that women were no more likely than men to mention ‘minor’ health pro
