Gender, role, and illness behavior in a military population.

Investigated the effects of gender and role stress on reporting and response to symptoms in a military population. 46 female and 44 male enlisted soldiers (mean age 22.9 yrs), who were members of administrative or combat support units, were interviewed and asked to keep a health diary for 30 days. Results show that although females reported twice as many health problems in the initial interview, there were no significant gender differences observed in symptom reporting on the health diary. Significant differences were obtained, however, between members of administrative and support units, with members of combat support units reporting twice as many symptoms in the diary. Overall, the results are interpreted as emphasizing the impact of occupational stress and group cohesion rather than gender as influences on illness behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)