MALE AND FEMALE HEALTH-PROBLEMS IN GENERAL-PRACTICE - THE DIFFERENTIAL IMPACT OF SOCIAL POSITION AND SOCIAL ROLES

Sex, social position and social roles have been identified as importan t health predictors. Moreover, various social variables have been foun d to bear differently upon female as compared to male health. This stu dy analyses data from a large-scale registration project in general pr actice (the Continuous Morbidity Registration), pertaining to the medi cal diagnoses of nearly 10,000 patients over a five year period. The e ffects of sex, social class, marital and parental status on a number o f distinct categories of health problems were established, and a possi ble differential impact of social position and social roles on male an d female health was explored. Categories of health problems studied we re 'overall health problems', 'sex specific conditions', 'symptoms wit hout disease', 'prevention and diagnostics' and 'trauma'. Sex and, abo ve all, social class were identified as important predictors of most c ategories of health problems, especially during the reproductive perio d of life. Marital status and parental status did not contribute subst antially to most types of health problems. Rates of prevention and dia gnostics, sex specific conditions and total number of health problems could to a certain extent be predicted by the four sociodemographic va riables, as opposed to trauma rates and symptoms without disease rates . Social class appeared the only variable with a substantially differe nt effect on male vs female rates of sex specific conditions, preventi on and diagnostics and trauma, but not so for overall health problems and symptoms without disease. Marital status and parental status did n ot differ significantly in their effect on male vs female health. Resu lts illustrate that differentiation of the health variable into catego ries of health problems elucidates the relationship between sex, socia l variables and health.