The social determinants of health: a contribution to the analysis of gender differences in health and illness

Journal/Book: Scand J Public Health. 1999; 27: PO Box 2959 Toyen, Journal Division Customer Service, N-0608 Oslo, Norway. Scandinavian University Press. 290-295.

Abstract: While it is established that socioeconomic status and social integration influence the distribution of health and illness among men and women, little attention has been paid to the different ways in which women and men experience socioeconomic opportunities and social attachments to others. Drawing on evidence from the literature, the position developed in this article is that gender mediates the influence of both socioeconomic status and social integration on health, and for women, these are intricately linked. Women's relationship to the labour market establishes and perpetuates their socioeconomic inequality relative to men, and may produce contradictory influences on women's health. Furthermore, for women, the marital relationship is paradoxical: marriage may at once improve economic and social support opportunities, while diminishing control over paid and unpaid work - potentially increasing as well as compromising the health status of women. The article is intended to contribute to the growing body of literature on gender and the determinants of health.

Note: Article Ballantyne PJ, Univ Toronto, Ctr Res Womens Hlth, Sunnybrook & Womens Coll, Hlth Sci Ctr, 790 Bay St, 7th Floor, Toronto, ON M5G 1N8, CANADA

Keyword(s): determinants of health; gender; social integration; social support; socioeconomic status; women; MARITAL-STATUS; HOST-RESISTANCE; UNITED-STATES; MORTALITY; INEQUALITIES; WOMEN; EMPLOYMENT; INCOME; MEN; MORBIDITY

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