Gender, ethnicity and self-reported health: the case of African-Caribbean populations in London

This paper explores quantitative and qualitative information on self-report ed health, focusing especially on gender differences in the reporting of he alth problems by men and women. The research reported here particularly exa mines evidence relating to the African-Caribbean population in London, some of which suggests that there may be a distinctive pattern of reported illn ess in this ethnic group in Britain, which differentiates it from the avera ge pattern for the majority population. Various population surveys using sy stematic measures have shown that women and men differ in terms of reported morbidity (particularly in the prevalence of self-reported illness and psy chosocial health). This paper reviews the quantitative data available to in vestigate the gender differences in the African-Caribbean population, showi ng that the pattern seems to vary according to the measure of health used. We consider how qualitative material from research conducted in East London may complement quantitative survey data and provide possible explanations for the reported health of,African-Caribbean women and men. We report on qu alitative observations of the process of completing standardized questionna ire items and discussion of these by the informants. We also examine the un derstandings about health and illness expressed by African-Caribbean women and men during in-depth interviews. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ ts reserved.