STRESS, DEPRESSION AND TIREDNESS AMONG WOMEN - THE SOCIAL PRODUCTION AND SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF HEALTH

This paper focusses on the social production of stress, depression and tiredness among women. These problems were among the most frequently reported by a random sample of 356 Canadian women. The authors use mul tiple linear regression procedures to explore the links between these health problems and aspects of the social and material conditions of w omen's lives. Some of the findings contradict the usual patterning of health problems. The authors suggest that by relying on women's own de finitions they may have captured a middle-class discourse of health. I n conclusion, it is argued that studies of the social production of il lness should also explore the ways in which definitions of health and illness are socially constructed.