Mental Health Disparities: Examining the Influence of Gender Bias

Much research suggests that gender disparities in mental health exist. Anxiety and depression, which are more common among women, affect approximately 1 in 4 people and as such constitute a serious public health problem. To date, very little research has examined how and why gender and gender specific experiences (e.g., sexism) contribute to mental health issues. Group membership, can determine the differential power and control that people have over the socioeconomic determinants of not only their social status but also their psychological health and well-being. For example, gender can determine women and men’s treatment in society, susceptibility and exposure to specific mental health risks, as well as the diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues. The primary objective of the present work was to examine the influence of sexism on psychological health as reported by community samples of adults. In line with our hypotheses, among women, frequency of sexist events was associated with less positive well-being and higher levels of anxiety. Further, this relationship was moderated by the severity of sexist events such that, women who rated the sexist exist events as more severe reported less positive well-being than their lower severity counterparts. Men reported experiencing fewer and less severe sexist events than women. However, sexist events had a similar pattern of effects on well-being among men. This investigation of the influence of sexism on mental health supports the notion that future mental health research should examine sexism as a factor to facilitate better understanding of gender disparities mental health.