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The gender gap in mental health service use
Abstract
Purpose This study examines why men engage less in mental health service use, by studying how gender is performed in interactions, following the doing gender perspective. We hypothesize that seeking help for mental illness may constitute a gendered role conflict among men since help seeking is associated with femininity. Therefore, we expect that men will recommend reliance on self-care options to other men, and in cases in which professional treatment is recommended, they will prefer medication to psychotherapy. We also expect that men will report greater stigmatizing attitudes.Methods The survey Stigma in a Global Context-Belgian Mental Health Study (2009) conducted interviews of a representative sample of the Belgian general population (N = 743). The vignette technique, depicting depressive and schizophrenic symptoms, was used. Multiple linear and logistic models were estimated in SPSS.Results In male vignettes, self-care is more likely to be recommended, both by male and female respondents. Men are less likely to acknowledge the helpfulness of psychotherapy and women rate psychotherapy as less helpful when judging a man compared to a woman. Men rate tranquilizers as more helpful for other males than that women do for other females. Furthermore, male respondents seem to ascribe more shame and blame to the situation.Conclusions The gender gap in mental health service use is due not only to men and their negative attitudes toward help seeking, but also to structured social norms that are reconstructed in interactions. Women also contribute to the maintenance of masculinity norms.
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“Current research suggests that men may benefit from MBIs less than women, and that men are less likely to engage in and acknowledge the helpfulness of psychotherapies such as MBIs (Addis & Mahalik, 2003; Pattyn et al., 2015; Rojiani et al., 2017).”
From Feasibility and acceptability of mindful recovery opioid use care continuum (M-ROCC): A concurrent mixed methods study (2021) · cites this paper as Pattyn et al., 2015
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“In contrast to the assumption that psychiatric service use contradicts masculinity (27), our results show that depression and service use were retrospectively perceived as a resource to assist in changing harmful attitudes, e.”
ResultCurrier, D., Lindner, R., Spittal, M. J., Cvetkovski, S., Pirkis, J., & English, D. R. (2019) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2019.09.061 · Cited by 96
Metadata
- Authors
- Pattyn, E., Verhaeghe, M., & Bracke, P.
- Affiliations
- Ghent University (BE)
- Corresponding author
- Pattyn, E.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
- Published
- 2015-03-19
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1089-1095
- ISSN
- 0933-7954 (ISSN-L)
- 1433-9285
- OpenAlex
- W2094992666
- Cited by
- 183
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 30 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 17.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Roles and Identity Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychology and Mental Health
- Keywords
- help-seeking, masculine norms, doing gender, femininity, mental health stigma, self-care, drug preference, depressive symptoms, shame and blame
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Mental Disorders, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Mental Health Services, Middle Aged, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Psychotherapy, Self Care, Sex Factors, Stereotyping, Young Adult, Social Stigma
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