Linsley, Christine Louise
(1993)
Gender divisions in health: An analysis of the 1982 General Household Survey.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
This thesis focuses on the different morbidity rates reported by men and women. Hypotheses are developed to account for this phenomenon, which are subsequently tested using the General Household Survey 1982. Chapter one looks at the history of medicine, identifying the paradigms which have shaped the discipline. These paradigms whilst being theoretically complementary have at times been in dispute. The disputed area is that between the social and the organic. Chapter two reviews the literature which suggests explanations for women's higher morbidity rates. These explanations stress the social differences between men and women. The adult roles of marriage, parenthood and employment are posited to be problematic for women, in terms of health, due to the gendered nature of child care and domestic tasks. It was felt that role overload for women would be exacerbated in a context of material deprivation. A number of hypotheses were then formulated which related adult roles and material deprivation. The next three chapters deal with the methodology to be used in the testing of the hypotheses formulated above. Chapter three begins by defending our use of secondary analysis as appropriate for this purpose. It addresses the criticisms of survey techniques, discusses the benefits and limitation of this methodological approach and looks at the varieties of research made possible with secondary analysis. Chapter four focuses on the origin and development of the General Household Survey. The quality of the data is discussed in terms of the sampling design and data collection. Also in Chapter four articles are reviewed to assess the GHS's research contribution to the behaviours of drinking and smoking and to the debate over inequities in health service provision. In Chapter five we operationalize our variables from the concepts generated in Chapter two. We also explain any data manipulation necessary to the analysis. Chapters six and seven tested the hypotheses formulated in chapter two. Gender differences in health outcomes due to adult roles were found and these differences were often exacerbated by material deprivation. With reference to the hypotheses in Chapter two and the findings of Chapters six and seven, Chapter eight uses logit analysis to address gender divisions in health. The findings of the three analysis chapters are discussed in Chapter nine.
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