Gender Differences in Trajectories of Self-Rated Health in Middle and Old Age: An Examination of Differential Exposure and Differential Vulnerability.
OBJECTIVE
This research examined gender differences in self-rated health (SRH) using the differential exposure and differential vulnerability explanations of gender differences in health.


METHODS
Trajectories of SRH were estimated using data that spanned 12 years (1992-2004) from the Health and Retirement Study.


RESULTS
There was no gender difference in SRH at baseline, but SRH declined faster for males over time. Factors that mediated the gender difference included changes in employment status, smoking behavior, and the onset of health conditions. Moreover, were it not for gender differences in various structural and health status factors, females would have better SRH at baseline and over time.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results differ from previous research, which often shows a female disadvantage that is reduced or disappears at older ages. Furthermore, gender differences in the predictors of SRH (exposure) contribute more to understanding gender differences in SRH than different responses to the predictors (vulnerability).
Department of Sociology, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, USA lrohlfsen@stlawu.edu.
Leah S
LS
Rohlfsen
Sociology Program, Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
Jennie
J
Jacobs Kronenfeld
differential exposure; differential vulnerability; gender differences; growth curve analysis; self-rated health