Perception of medical symptoms according to gender of reporting person and type of symptom.
Two hundred and eight male and female participants were given unanticipated memory and recognition tasks with which to recall and recognize medical symptoms, described on audiotapes by male and female individuals. Half of the presented symptoms were among those typically experienced by males; half were among those experienced mostly by females. Both memory and recall were better when the audiotaped reporting persons was male. Gender orientation of symptoms (male versus female orientation) was not associated with better recall or recognition, nor was the factor of subject gender. Although neither "male" nor "female" symptoms were seen generally as more serious overall, an interaction effect showed that symptoms were seen as more serious, especially in the case of the male audiotape, when they were incongruous with the gender of the reporting person. Some possible implications of the results are outlined. More research is required to assess the differential perception of medical and other types of symptoms.
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University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010465:Perception; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States