‘Old-School’ Masculine Men Less Likely to Visit a Doctor
Aug 12, 2009 | Posted by bryan | 0 Comments
Overly masculine men are half as likely to see a doctor for preventative health care than other men, a new study has revealed.
Research led by Kristen W Springer, the study’s primary investigator and assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers university in New Jersey, is to be presented at the 104th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.
The results showed that if a man endorsed ‘masculine ideals’, then this attitude towards visiting a doctor prevailed regardless of education, marital status, family background or prior health.
Professor Springer said: “As job status increases among men who have strong masculinity beliefs, the likelihood that they will obtain preventative health care declines significantly.”
Men who work in blue-collar jobs like truck driving or machine operating proved to be the exception to the findings, she explained.
The results suggested that for these men, the threat to their masculinity posed by visiting a doctor is less of a worry than being unable to perform properly while at work.
Responses from 1,000 men in Wisconsin to questions about masculinity and their attitude towards receiving preventative care were analyzed to compile the report.