Question

Although boys with psychological disorders outnumber girls, adult women with such disorders outnumber adult men. How might you explain this age-related shift

Answer 1

Gender is correlated with the prevalence of certain psychological disorders including depression, anxiety, somatic complaint etc.

The intake of alcohol is relatively more than twice as high in men and men are more than three times as likely to be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder.

Where as major depression is twice as common in women.

Sigmund Frued postulated that women were more prone to nuerosis because that experienced aggression towards the self, which stemmed from developmental issues. Frued's postulation is countered by the idea that societal factors, such as gender roles, may play a major role in the development of mental illness. When considering gender and mental illnes, one must look to explain areas in which men and women develop different mental illnesses. Societal patriachy and gender roles have adverse effects on the psychological perceptions of both men and women. These gender roles may include pressure on men not to show their emotions and fact that women, on average, have lost self esteem and sense of control than men. In some cases when such factors were controlled, girls showed lower rates of mental illness.

The object relations theory postulates that because women are mostly responsible for parenting, mothers emphasiz the importance of relationships to their daughters while pushing their sons into independence.

Sometimes cultural factors play an important role in boys are having more psychological disorders.

On the other hand women are more likely to suffer from psychological disorders as compared to men. The reason for these gender differences are not clear, but some believe that women are are more sensitive and therefore more likely to report such symptoms. Psychological disorder like depression is very common among women during menopause.

Women tend to be more involved in personal relationships than men and suffer more when they are disrupted. More married women and housewives have increasingly entered workforce and find it difficult to juggle job and family responsibilities, which can cause psychological disorders.