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Psychology 320: Psychology of Gender and Sex Differences

March 14

Lecture 55

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Office Hour InvitationsMarch 14, 11:30-2:30, Kenny 3102

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Paper:

Topic due date: March 17 (Option A or B, 3-5 sentence summary; e-mail to your TA for approval).

Paper due date: March 31.

Questions?

Reminder

A little R&R ….(Review and Reflect)

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Stages of Worldwide Tobacco Epidemic5

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Physical Health:

1. What factors account for sex differences in health? (continued)

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

1. review health behaviours that may contribute to sex differences in mortality and morbidity.

3. discuss sex differences in alcohol and drug use rates.

2. explain the poorer quit rates of smoking among females than males.

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5. discuss sex differences in overweight and obesity rates.

4. explain the greater susceptibility to alcohol-related impairments among females than males.

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Intervention studies have shown that males are more successful at quitting smoking than females (Bjornson et al., 1995; Wetter et al., 1999).

What factors account for sex differences in health? (continued)

2. Health Behaviours (continued)

(b) Smoking (continued)

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(c) Alcohol and Other Drug Use

The prevalence of alcohol and other drug use has declined in Canada in recent years (Statistics Canada, 2009).

Males are more likely than females to consume alcohol and illicit drugs; females are more likely than males to consume psychoactive pharmaceutical drugs.

Males Females

Alcohol (any amount, past 30 days) 70.6 58.6

Alcohol (any amount, past 12 months) 81.4 73.5

Alcohol (heavy drinking, 5 or more drinks on one occasion, at least once a month, past 12

months) 26.8 11.4

Illicit drugs (e.g., cannabis, cocaine/crack, speed, ecstasy, hallucinogens, heroin; past

12 months)15.3 9.1

Pharmaceutical drugs (pain relievers, stimulants, sedatives; past 12 months)

24.4 (0.5 to get high)

32.1(0.6 to get high)

Rates of Alcohol and Drug Use by Sex, (Statistics Canada, 2008, 2012)

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Consistent with the greater alcohol and illicit drug use among males than females, males are more likely than females to be (Statistics Canada, 2009):

alcohol dependent (3.9% vs. 1.3%)

illicit drug dependent (1.1% vs. 0.5%)

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Females become more quickly addicted to alcohol and drugs than males and experience more adverse health consequences (e.g., brain atrophy) from alcohol than males.

Females are more likely than males to receive treatment for drug abuse.

Females are more vulnerable to the acute and chronic effects of alcohol and other drugs (Nolen-Hoeksema & Hill, 2006; Roth et al., 2004):

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(d) Overweight, Obesity, and Exercise

Healthy vs. unhealthy weight is determined by the body mass index (BMI):

BMI = weight (kg) / height (m) 2

Overweight = BMI of 25 to 29.9

Obese = BMI ≥ 30

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Rates of overweight and obesity have increased substantially in Canada over the last 3 decades.

Males are more likely than females to be overweight. Males and females do not differ significantly in rates of obesity (Statistics Canada, 2011).

Trends in Overweight and Obesity Across Time (Statistics Canada, 2011)

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

1. review health behaviours that may contribute to sex differences in mortality and morbidity.

3. discuss sex differences in alcohol and drug use rates.

2. explain the poorer quit rates of smoking among females than males.

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5. discuss sex differences in overweight and obesity rates.

4. explain the greater susceptibility to alcohol-related impairments among females than males.