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MENTAL HEALTH Materials provided here are neither intended nor suitable for individuals needing practical assistance with specific mental health problems of their own or of friends/family/colleagues. For such situations, people should contact local mental health agencies, doctors, or other health care professionals. Some access points are provided here.

Center for Science in Society

• Sexual Abuse of Preadolescent Children: Gender Differences in Symptoms and Treatment
  This article addresses some of the gender differences in those children who have experienced sexual aubse.

• Annual Update on Women’s Health Research: Discoveries and Implications
  From the Society for Women’s Health Research, this article discusses gender based biology and gender differences in mental health.

• "Sex Matters" in Medical Research: From Womb to Tomb, April 2001
  The Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences confirmed that differences between the sexes exist in the prevalence and severity of a broad range of diseases, disorders, and conditions.

• Why Gender Matters in Mental Health, September 2000
  A report by the Women's Mental Health Consortium which seeks to ensure that NIMH policy and research priorities reflect concerns and research specific to the mental health needs of women as well as men.

• Women Hold Up Half the Sky
  From NIMH, this page presents research findings that mental illnesses affect women and men differently.

• Chartbook on Women and Disability in the United States
  This section of the chartbook, from the National Institute in Disability and Rehabilitation Research discusses whether there are gender differences in limitations due to serious mental illness.

• Maximum-security Female and Male Federal Offenders: A Comparison
  The present investigation compared female offenders placed in maximum security to their male counterparts on the following: risk (security and escape), criminogenic need, and suicide potential.

• Gender Differences in Adult Perspectives on Adolescent Reproductive Behaviors: Evidence from Lomé, Togo, December 2001
  This study investigated adults' attitudes toward adolescent sexual and contraceptive behaviors in Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Gender Differences in Physical Attraction
  Similarities and differences between the sexes in tactics of attraction as well as body self-image.

• Gender Differences Found in Effects of Pain Medication, March 2000
  Researchers led by UCSF physicians are reporting that an experimental pain drug known as a kappa-opioid brings pain relief to female rats but not males, a finding that adds weight to a recent UCSF clinical finding and highlights the need to evaluate drugs by gender.

• A Meta-Analytic Review of Gender Differences in Perceptions of Sexual Harassment
  The authors report a meta-analysis of 62 studies of gender differences in harassment perceptions.

• Men, Women and Sex Differences: The Attitudes of Three Feminists
  A case study of how Gloria Steinem, Gloria Allred and Bella Abzug responded to evidence of sex differences.

• Male and Female Differences in Reports of Women’s Heterosexual Initiation and Aggression
  The present study is a replication of previous work that compared male and female reports of women’s heterosexual initiation and aggression.

• Gender, Genes Are Linked To Pain Response, February 2000
  Genes and gender explain part of the difference in how people feel pain, and also why some get more relief from painkillers than others do.

• Men Show Feelings In Lower Left Quadrant Of Face, February 2001
  Although men and women are equally expressive, men display most of their joy, disgust or other sentiments in the lower left quadrant of their face. Women, on the other hand, show their emotions across their entire countenance.

• Gender Differences Possible Root of Sleeping Disorder, November 2001
  Gender hormones may be a key factor in the onset of a common human disorder called sleep apnea, suggest findings from a new study.

• The Meaning of Color for Gender
  This article presents information on research indicating that there is a gender difference in response to color.

• Get Gendersmart! Understand Behavioral Style Differences
  This article discusses why men and women are different, the influences that contribute to gender differences, and these differences affect communication.

• Gender Differences in Risk Behaviors Associated With Forced or Pressured Sex, January 1998
  This article determines whether gender-specific patterns of risk behaviors are associated with a self-reported history of ever having been forced or pressured to have sexual intercourse among sexually active adolescents.

• Hypertension Predicted by Gender Differences in Psychological Factors, February 2002
  In men, unemployment and job insecurity was associated increase in hypertension, whereas with women hypertension was associated with unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.

• Symposium Explores Gender Differences in Substance Abuse , January 2000
  Men and women become addicted, present for symptoms and respond to medical treatment and management in very different ways due to differences in both biology and psychology.

• Gender Affects Relationships Between Drug Abuse and Psychiatric Disorders, July 1997
  This article discusses the gender differences in the use of drugs and alcohol and the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders.

• Gender Differences in Drinking Patterns and Problems Among College Students
  This review of the literature reports gender variations in drinking patterns and problems among college students.

• Nicotine Addiction
  Several avenues of research now indicate that men and women differ in their smoking behavior and that differences in nicotine sensitivity may be the root cause.

• Study Sheds Light on Role of Gender Differences in the Risk of HIV Infection Among Injection Drug Users, May 2001
  HIV risk factors among injection drug users (IDUs) differ markedly by gender, according to a 10-year study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

• Men, Women, and the Internet: Gender Differences
  Gender influences the types of applications and underlying reasons for Internet addiction.

• Gender Differences in Drug Abuse Risks and Treatment, September 2000
  From NIDA, this page summarizes research findings on gender differences in drug use, including women and men tend to abuse different drugs, that the effects of drugs are different for women and men, and that some approaches to treatment are more successful for women than for men.

• Health Center Study Identifies Gender Differences Among Problem Gamblers, November 2001
  Among male and femaleproblem gamblers, there are some major differences, according to a new study on treatments for problem gamblers.

• Men and Women Gamble for Different Reasons, Yale Researchers Report, September 2001
  Male gamblers are more likely than female gamblers to report addictive behavior related to strategic or "face-to-face" forms of gambling such as blackjack or poker.

• Gender Differences May Affect Substance Abuse Treatment Retention, December 2000
  A short summary of how researchers identified some gender-based differences in retention rates between men and women in outpatient programs treating alcohol and drug abuse.

• Female Drinkers Face More Health Risks than Men, January 2002
  A recently released study found that women who drink heavily face more severe, long-term health problems than men.

• Women and Suicide
  A fact sheet on suicide comparing facts of suicide among women versus men.

• 1999 Official Final Statistics
  From the American Association of Suicidology, this page presents demographic information (including gender) on suicide in the United States.

• Gender Differences in the Suicide-related Behaviors of Adolescents and Young Adults, 1998Results of a research study of gender differences in the expression of and associations among various suicide-related behaviors.

• Depression in Women and Men: What´s the Difference, March 2001
  Summary of a one-day program co-sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR).

• Women and Depression
  A fact sheet that presents the possible causes of higher rates of depression in women then men.

• Sex Differences in the Prevalence and Detection of Depressive and Anxiety Disorders in General Health Care Settings, May 1998
  This study explored whether sex differences in the prevalence and detection of depressive and anxiety disorders was impaired by the lack of standardized research methods across cultures.

• Study Says Men and Women Are not Worlds Apart After All, 1998
  Diane Spangler, a clinical psychologist at BYU, conducted a study that proves false a popular theory in clinical psychology regarding how and why men and women become depressed.

• Exploring Gender Difference in Depression, March 2001
  This article summarizes the findings of an article that explored some of the possible explanations for gender differences in depression.

• Exploring Gender Difference in Depression, March 2001
  This article explores some of the possible explanations for gender differences in depression.

• Depression Can Differ in Men and Women
  Summary of a NIMH meeting that explored gender differences in depression from a variety of perspectives.

• Why Are So Many Women Depressed
  This article from NIMH explains why women may be more vulnerable to depression.

• Higher Rates of Depression in Women
  A NAMI Helpline fact sheet offering some possible explanations for why women suffer from depression more often than men.

• Depression in Women, 1999
  A discussion of depression, which women suffer in far greater numbers than men, and the health issues and political ramifications involved in this scenario. Full article can be linked to.

• Gender Differences, Gamma Phase Synchrony and Schizophrenia, March 2001
  A technical article that investigates gender differences in patients with schizophrenia.

• Gender Differences in Brains of Patients With Schizophrenia: A Volumetric MRI Study, April 1999
  Abstract of an article from the American Journal of Psychiatry. Researchers have found that temporal lobe sizes differ in men and women with schizophrenia.

• Schizophrenia Treatment: Are Women Losing Out?
  Women with schizophrenia are being treated with higher than necessary doses of antipsychotic drugs with harmful side-effects, according to Monash researcher Associate Professor Jayashari Kulkarni.

• Women at Greater Risk for Developing Alzheimer's than Men, March 2000
  Older women have a greater risk for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) than older men but the risk for vascular dementia is similar in both genders, according to the authors.

• The Impact of Alzheimer's Disease on Caregivers is Gender-Specific
  The goal of this study was to examine gender-specific predictors of burden in spousal caregivers of individuals with AD.

• Gender Differences in Alzheimer's Disease, Nov/Dec 2001
  Recent research suggests that gender may be an important modifying factor in AD's development and expression.

• Gender Differences in Body Image, September 1998
  Summary of an article from Psychological Science, the authors conducted a meta-analysis of these 222 studies, analyzing effect sizes for gender differences in each of the studies.

• Eating Disorders in Males, September 1995
  Differences between the sexes in predisposition, course and onset of eating disorders are discussed.

• Men and Eating Disorders: The Latest Facts
  A comparison of eating disorders in men versus women, noting specifically the struggles and symptoms of males.

• Gender Differences in Body Image, September 1998
  Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of all these studies to determine if, indeed, body image is eroding and gender differences in body image are increasing.

• Gender Differences in the Etiology of Anxiety Sensitivity: A Twin Study
  This study attempted to estimate the magnitude of genetic and environmental factors on anxiety sensitivity by gender.

• Anxiety Disorders and the Emergence of Sex Differences in Major Depression
  The objective of the study was to examine the role of anxiety disorders in the development of sex differences in the risk of major depression.

• Anxiety Levels and Gender Differences in Social Volleyball Players
  This study investigated the extent to which male and female volleyball players reported a feeling of anxiety before and during the game.

• Gender Differences in Computer-Simulated Virtual Environments
  Well-documented gender differences in people's ability to navigate in the real world are vastly exaggerated in computer-simulated virtual environment, according to University of Washington researchers.

• The Biological Basis for Gender Based Differences in Web-Based "Discussions" and Assessment, January 2001
  why elimination of appearance or voice pitch cues in asynchronous communication of Web-based discussion does not automatically create gender equity.

• Male/Female Communication Styles
  This article discusses gender differences in communication style.

• Age, Gender Affect Auditory Measures of Interhemispheric Function During Middle-Age Years, April, 2001
  Researchers have found that both aging and gender affect the auditory functioning of an adult's brain during middle age and that this may contribute to auditory and communication difficulties.

• On-Line Smiles: Does Gender Make a Difference in the Use of Graphic Accents?
  This article researches whether it is possible to determine the gender of a message sender from cues in the message.

• Using E-mail for Personal Relationships: The Difference Gender Makes
  This article explores the types of relationships women and men maintain by e-mail, differences in their e-mail use locally and at a distance, and differences in the contents of messages they send.

• Democracy or Difference: A Literature Review of Gender Differences in Online Communication, 1997
  This article provides an in-depth review of several theories related to gender and communication on the Internet.

• Gender Styles in Computer Mediated Communication (CMC)
  This article attempts to answer the question: If we assume that men and women have different styles of face-to-face communication and use it for different purposes, will these differences carry over into computer-mediated communication?

• Gender Often Does Matter in Communications Between Parents and Children, May 1998
  But UCSC researchers find that differences in communication styles are not uniform - and that the differences may be related to the conversation topics men and women select.

• Gender Differences in the Chinese Language: A Preliminary Report, May 1997
  This paper brings together both scattered observations and detailed published works on Chinese to provide a preliminary report on gender differences in the Chinese language.

• Gender Differences In Communication
  How the genders are perceived to express themselves differently in the form of communications, if at all, and whether or not actual differences exist according to scientific research.

• Gender Differences in E-mail Communication
  This article examines the implications of gender differences on language use in electronic mail discussion groups.

• Gender Gap Shows Cyberspace Bias
  The difference between men and women in performing the mental rotation test is increased when one is exploring the virtual rather than a real space.

• Gender Equity, February 2002
  Changes in school structure and teaching style following results of research on students and gender differences in learning style, behavior and cognition.

• Gender and Differing Rates of Brain Activity Influence the Level of Reading and Language Skills for Boys and Girls
  The current study has investigated the emerging connectivity of neural networks associated with phonological processing, verbal fluency, higher-level thinking and word retrieval.

• Gender Differences in Educational Achievement within Racial and Ethnic Groups, August 2001
  While demonstrating generally that there are more similarities than variations in gender differences among racial/ethnic groups, present statistics showing some interesting twists in the way the differences are manifested.

• Solution Strategies and Gender Differences in Spatial Visualization Tasks, 2000
  This study examined solution strategies, analytic and holistic or spacial manipulation, and gender differences in a Spatial Visualization (Vz) task.

• Gender Differences and Adolescent Social Cognition
  This article presents the similarities and differences in male and female development.

• Gender Differences in Cognition: Myths and Facts
  A list of myths and facts regarding differences men and women.

• Gender Differences Found In The Way Boys And Girls Solve Math Problems, June 1997
  Two studies look at gender differences in math learning in elementary school and the role social pressure plays in math achievement for adolescents.

• Gender Differences in Acquisition of Environmental Knowledge, July 1999
  This artice presents information on the acquisition of environmental knowledge related to wayfinding behavior, spatial anxiety and self-estimated environmental competencies.

• Gender Differences in Asynchronous Learning in Higher Education, May, 1999
  This article discusses gender differences in learning styles, participation barriers and communication patterns.

• Report Casts Doubt on the Value Of Single-Sex Schooling, March 1998
  At a time when single-sex education is gaining momentum both in public and private schools nationwide, a report says there is insufficient evidence that all-girls schools work.

• Gender Differences in Asynchronous Learning in Higher Education: Learning Styles, Participation Barriers and Communication Patterns
  This study examines male and female students in relationship to increased reliance upon asynchronous-based instruction and to an increased number of female students. Asynchronous CMC-based distance education will be examined to determine if the environment is equitable for both male and female distance students.

• Gender Differences in K-12 Education
  This paper's focus is on gender differences in K-12 education on the national as well as state level.

• Gender Differences in Academic Achievement and Self-Concept in Coeducational and Single-Sex Schools
  An empirical study of the impact of the transition from single-sex to coeducation in two Sydney state high schools on student achievement and self-concept, as well as upon teacher perceptions of the coeducation process.

• Women in Cell Biology
  Discusses whether there is gender bias in student evaluations of teaching.

• The Chilly Climate
  How men and women are treated differently in classrooms and at work.

• Age and Gender Differences in Instructional Preferences
  This study asked whether there are gender and age differences on preferences for instructional practices, and if there are gender and age differences on perceptions of readiness for college in terms of academic skills, organizational skills, motivation, and commitment to educational goals.

• Is the Glass Half Empty or Half full?
  An excellent feature from Scientific American Explorations that documents the changing challenges facing women in science, delve into gender differences, examine the underlying causes and theories about women's status in science and present some proposals for change.

• Why Are There So Few Women in Science?, September, 1999
  Women are unequally represented in science and their career progression is not comparable to their male colleagues.

• Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering
  This report is the 10th in a series of Congressionally mandated biennial reports on the status of women and minorities in science and engineering.

• Where Have All The Women Gone? The Lack of Female Science Faculty
  This article examines the largely cultural reasons that women continue to vote against the academic sciences, including the premium traditionally placed on competition, hierarchy and toughness.

• Findings from The Condition of Education 1997: Women in Mathematics and Science
  This essay, taken from The Condition of Education 1997, reviews the most current data on women's progress in mathematics and science achievement, attitudes, course-taking patterns, and college majors.

• Women Scientists and Engineers Employed in Industry: Why So Few?
  A 1994 report from the Committee on Women in Science and Engineering (CWSE) of the National Research Council.

• The Gender Gap in Science, October 2001
  Societal norms, a lack of role models, discrimination, husbands, kids, and cats: Anybody who wants to bring gender equity to science has many issues to tackle. The gender gap goes far beyond campus policies.

• The "Problem" of Women in Science: Why Is It So Difficult to Convince People There Is One?
  Despite the discouraging statistics about women in science, it is still surprisingly difficult to convince working scientists that there is a problem or that it is their problem and not the fault of women scientists themselves.

• How Women Make Science Work, Decebmer 2000
  The story of Carol Kovac, director of IBM Life Sciences, and the impact of gender stereotypes and real life issues on her powerful position.

• Crashing the Top, October 1999
  Women at elite universities may have broken the ivory ceiling, but they're still battling old-fashioned discrimination.

• Too Few at the Top Women in Science, November 2000
  The author examines some of the factors underlying the slow progress of women in science.

• Women in Biotech: A Personal Perspective, December 2001
  This article examines and suggests several potential reasons for few women holding high level positions in the biotech industry and looks ahead to what the future might hold for women in biotechnology.

• Female Scientists Turn Their Backs on Jobs at Research Universities, August 2000
  Many say liberal-arts colleges provide a better place for women to thrive.

• The Glass Ceiling As Signifier, February 2001
  An article about women in academics and findings that indicate things are worse than ever for women on the faculties of major universities.

• Women Without Tenure, September, 2001
  The first in a series of 3 articles that explores the academy as a place for women to work, particularly in the sciences. However, most women experience the academic culture differently from men and consequently make different choices about faculty careers.

• Knocking on the Doors of the Ivory Tower
  Young women navigate academic medicine's gender roadblocks.

• How the Tenure Track Discriminates Against Women, October 2000
  This article investigates why the proportion of tenured female faculty members rose so slowly despite a sharp increase in the number of women earning advanced academic degrees.

• Why Don't Women Publish as Much as Men?
  Some blame inequity in academe; others say quantity doesn't matter.

• Women in Cell Biology
  Article discusses why women leave scienece.

• Women Science Majors: What Makes a Difference in Persistence after Graduation?, August 1995
  The present study examines factors associated with persistence in the sciences for young women who majored in sciences and mathematics as undergraduates at a leading women's college.

The MIT Report

• A Study on the Status of Women Faculty in Science at MIT, March 1999
  A study at MIT that analyzes impact of gender on work, including the representation of women faculty in science, salaries, and work/home struggles compared with men.

• An MIT Professor's Suspicion of Bias Leads to a New Movement for Academic Women
  Faculty members at other universities seek to apply her approach to promote gender equity.

• Creating Fairness for Women Scientists: Lessons from MIT
  This article starts with the MIT report and goes on to analyze sources of perceptual gender bias and suggest strategies for dealing with it.

• MIT and Gender Bias: Following Up on Victory
  This article recounts the efforts of a group of female faculty members at MIT to draw attention to disparities in the way male and female faculty members were treated there.

• US Science Shocked by Revelations of Sexual Discrimination, June 2000
  The scientific establishment in the United States has received a resoundingwake-up call over sexual equality.

• MIT Acknowledges Bias Against Female Faculty Members, April 1999
  This article summarizes MIT's candid report that responds to complaints by women on salaries, office size, committee assignments, and awards.

• From Alaskan Outpost, Judith Kleinfeld Looks Down on Higher Education, November 2000
  An article written by a women who criticizes the MIT report.

• Sex and science, April 2001
  A critical article regarding the MIT study.

• Girls and Violence
  This article reviews current research on girls' (compared with boys') delinquent and violent behavior (risk-taking), the factors contributing to it, and effective programming strategies to prevent it.

• Women's Salaries in Life Sciences One-Third Less, October 2001
  In the life sciences wage gaps start out small, but inequities between genders accumulate over a long career resulting in deep divides. Risk-taking is one area that affects this discrepancy.

• Gender Differences in General Aviation Crashes
  Study finds male pilots paid less attention and demonstrated more risk-taking behaiors while femals pilots mishandled aircraft.

• Gender Differences in the Suicide-Related Behaviors of Adolescents and Young Adults, 1998
  Suicidal behavior has been directly associated with other risk-taking behaviors. This article proposes that suicide prevention will be enhanced if life-enhancing behaviors are increased and life-threatening behaviors are decreased.

• Risk-Enhancing Phenomena in Gambling
  This study investigated risk-taking differences with respect to group exposure and the familiarization effect. No gender differences were found in the present study.

• Nature and Lifestyle Kill Men Earlier, February 2001
  In addition to evidence suggesting that sex chromosomes and hormones affect mortality, risk taking behavior, especially cigarette smoking, also contributes to males dying at younger ages.

• Gender Differences in Strategic Decision-Making
  Results indicate that there are no significant gender differences in venture innovation/risk situation, in strategies chosen by entrepreneurs, or in satisfaction with venture performance.

• Gender Specific Attitudes Towards Risk and Ambiguity, July 2000
  Researchers conducted a lottery experiment introducing three types of probability information: pure risk, weak ambiguity and strong ambiguity. The main result is that gender differences may arise in ambiguity frames: women are more ambiguity averse than men in the investment context, but not in the insurance context.

• Growing Up Male and Female in Canada
  The emergence of a gendered identity and a sense of gender appropriate behaviour (i.e., risk-taking) are important to understanding the links between gender and health.

• Is Passenger Presence Associated With More or Less Risk Taking?
  It seems that there is an association between not only driver age and sex with speed choice (risk-taking behavior) but also that passenger age and sex have a role to play.

Back to Mental Health Project.

These resource lists are being maintained by Debbie Plotnick, working with Paul Grobstein, Department of Biology, and James Martin, School of Social Work and Social Research, at Bryn Mawr College. Suggestions for additions to the list are welcome, as are more general thoughts about how to most effectively make available information, and promote conversation, about issues of mental health. Contact dplotnic@brynmawr.edu - pgrobste@brynmawr.edu - jmartin@brynmawr.edu.


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