Gender-related individual differences and mortality in the Terman longitudinal study: Is masculinity hazardous to your health?

Data were collected, refined, and analyzed on 654 ma and 210 women in Lewis Terman's "gifted children" longitudinal study to examine links between mas culinity and mortality. Masculinity measures included gender diagnosticity (GD) scores, measuring the mak or female-typicality of occupational prefere nces in 1940 and masculinity-femininity (M-F) scores from the Strong Vocati onal Interest Blank (SVIB). Hazard analyses showed GD was significantly rel ated to mortality for both men and women (interquartile relative hazard 1.2 5 for men and 1.62 for women), with masculine women and masculine ma more l ikely to die at any given age. SVIB M-F was similarly related to mortality for both men and women (respective interquartile relative hazards = 1.26 an d 1.36). The effects remained significant after controlling for certain hea lth behaviors and Big Five traits.