Do you wonder why men in Western societies die before women?

Did you know that men in Western societies die at higher rates than
women from all 10 of the leading causes of death?

Do you know that research trying to find out why men die earlier does
not include adult men from different backgrounds from across the
country?

My name is Dr. James Mahalik and I am a researcher at Boston College
examining men's health issues. I am contacting men to ask them to
take a 25-30 minute, anonymous, on-line survey. I've designed the
study so that you can answer it at any time of the day or night in the
privacy of your home or another place by clicking on the url below:

https://www.psychdata.com/surveys.asp?SID=7938

The goal in this study is to learn more about influences on men's
health in order to help men live longer and healthier lives. Research
on these issues has been criticized for not including adult men from a
broad range of backgrounds and ages. So without understanding the
experiences of men like you, work on men's health remains very
incomplete.

Your participation is entirely anonymous. In the study, you will not be
asked to give any identifying information (e.g., name, town, address).
Your decision to take part in this study is voluntary. You will not be
contacted in any way following your participation in the survey. You
will not be asked to buy anything or to sign up for any membership. You
are only being asked to complete the on-line survey and nothing else.

Thank you for your willingness to consider participating in this
survey. If you have any questions, please contact me at .
Also, if you are interested in receiving results from this study,
please send me an e-mail to at and ask for a summary of
the studies findings when complete (about 1-2 months).

To participate, simply click on this link:
https://www.psychdata.com/surveys.asp?SID=7938

On 16 Apr 2005 16:35:49 -0700, wrote:

Do you wonder why men in Western societies die before women?

No, unless it's because they spend more time than women reading so
much crap in newsgroups intended for a better purpose.

My name is Dr. James Mahalik and I am a researcher at Boston College
examining men's health issues.

Then perhaps you are intelligent enough to realise that is is a
woodworking forum?

Guess who wrote in
news
My name is Dr. James Mahalik and I am a researcher at Boston College
examining men's health issues.

Then perhaps you are intelligent enough to realise that is is a
woodworking forum?

quoting from an article by the doctor found by using Pubmed. According to
a search at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=pubmed for
mahalik j, the doctor has published 5 articles in psychology-type journals
since 2001.
As a biochemist, I have no idea what the quality of this work is.
Dr. Mahalik describes himself in the latest article entitled
"The role of insecure attachment and gender role stress in predicting
controlling behaviors in men who batter"
as follows:

James R. Mahalik, Ph.D., completed his doctorate in counseling psychology
at the University of Maryland in 1990. He is currently an associate
professor in the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational
Psychology at Boston College. His specialty interests include
understanding the sources of gender role conformity and how it affects
developmental, psychological, and relational well-being for individuals,
families, and communities, along with how gender role conformity affects
men’s utilization and experiences with psychotherapy.

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

On Sun, 17 Apr 2005 00:30:18 GMT, Han wrote:

Guess who wrote in
news
My name is Dr. James Mahalik and I am a researcher at Boston College
examining men's health issues.

Then perhaps you are intelligent enough to realise that is is a
woodworking forum?

quoting from an article by the doctor found by using Pubmed. According to
a search at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=pubmed for
mahalik j, the doctor has published 5 articles in psychology-type journals
since 2001.
As a biochemist, I have no idea what the quality of this work is.
Dr. Mahalik describes himself in the latest article entitled
"The role of insecure attachment and gender role stress in predicting
controlling behaviors in men who batter"
as follows:

James R. Mahalik, Ph.D., completed his doctorate in counseling psychology
at the University of Maryland in 1990. He is currently an associate
professor in the Department of Counseling, Developmental, and Educational
Psychology at Boston College. His specialty interests include
understanding the sources of gender role conformity and how it affects
developmental, psychological, and relational well-being for individuals,
families, and communities, along with how gender role conformity affects
men’s utilization and experiences with psychotherapy.

Wow, Han, you spent a lot more than the 2 seconds I used to preview and
disregard the original posting.

So, basically what your research into his background indicates is that
the good Dr. has an agenda. i.e. "gender role conformity" is typically a
feminist term for "male patriarchy and men want to control everything and
make girls dress up in frilly dresses, men are jerks, a means to change
their behavior is needed".

Probably also explains his posting to rec.ww. Since woodworking is a
typical "male gender role", there are most likely a bunch of Neanderthals
and male chauvinists hanging out here, thus he is looking for a
self-selected survey group to prove some theory. Since I am neither a
psychotherapist nor a biochemist, but a simple engineer (one of the
hallmarks of engineering is speculating upon particular phenomena) I will
speculate that he is looking for something that will tie the concept of
"gender role conformity" with some aberrant neurosis or other.


+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
The absence of accidents does not mean the presence of safety
Army General Richard Cody
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

"Mark & Juanita" wrote in message
...

Probably also explains his posting to rec.ww. Since woodworking is a
typical "male gender role", there are most likely a bunch of Neanderthals
and male chauvinists hanging out here,


You've nailed it.

Frank
"Women should be obscene and not heard" -Groucho Marx

In article . net,
"Frank Ketchum" wrote:

Probably also explains his posting to rec.ww. Since woodworking is a
typical "male gender role", there are most likely a bunch of Neanderthals
and male chauvinists hanging out here,


You've nailed it.

You and Mark have illustrated the gender role conformity quite well -
thank you for representing how stereotypical males behave.

A little sensitive are we?
--
Owen Lowe
The Fly-by-Night Copper Company
____

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
Corporate States of America and to the
Republicans for which it stands, one nation,
under debt, easily divisible, with liberty
and justice for oil."
- Wiley Miller, Non Sequitur, 1/24/05

In article .com, wrote:
Do you wonder why men in Western societies die before women?

Did you know that men in Western societies die at higher rates than
women from all 10 of the leading causes of death?

Do you know that research trying to find out why men die earlier does
not include adult men from different backgrounds from across the
country?
[snip[
To participate, simply click on this link:
https://www.psychdata.com/surveys.asp?SID=7938

Well, guys, after checking out Dr. Mahalik at the BC web site and figuring
this looked more-or-less legit, I decided to take the survey. I was surprised
at the number of questions dealing with alcohol and tobacco use, and
involvement in fights, but most of the rest seemed pretty normal. At the end,
this comes up, which I found interesting:

Purpose of the Study

Men in the United States are much less healthy compared to women on almost any
indicator. Mortality statistics indicate that men die 5.4 years earlier than
women die and have a 43 percent greater age-adjusted death rate than women
(Arias, Anderson, Kung, Murphy, & Kochanek, 2003). Men are also more likely
than women to have chronic illnesses and suffer them at an earlier age
(Verbrugge & Wingard, 1987) dying at higher rates than women from 14 of the 15
leading causes of death except for Alzheimer’s disease (Arias et al., 2003).
This pattern is also true for men's health in other Western societies.

Although a number of factors influence health and longevity such as biology
and access to health care, many health scientists believe that health risk
behaviors are the most important of these factors (e.g., preventive care,
diet, substance use, risk-taking, social support). Recent research estimates
that 50% of morbidity and mortality are due to behavioral factors (Mokdad,
Marks, Stroup, & Gerberding, 2004) with the U.S. Preventive Services Task
Force (1996) estimating that half of all deaths in any given year could be
prevented through changes in personal health behaviors.

A recent review evaluating health risk behaviors determined that men are more
likely than women to engage in over 30 health risk behaviors that increase the
risk of disease, injury, and death (Courtenay, 2001). These facts suggest that
the most obvious explanation for men’s earlier mortality and higher rates of
illness and injury is their less healthy lifestyles compared to women
(Courtenay, 1998; Lonnquist, Weiss, & Larsen, 1992). A straightforward means
to improve men’s health would be to reduce health risk behavior in men. To do
so, the first question to be answered is why men engage in more health risk
behaviors.

One suggestion is that men who endorse traditional ideas about masculinity
tend to adopt poorer health behaviors and have greater health risks than their
peers who endorse less traditional ideas. In fact, traditional beliefs about
manhood emerged as the strongest predictor of health risk behaviors over time
in a national longitudinal study of young men (Pleck, Sonenstein, Ku, &
Burbridge, 1996). Illustrating how masculinity may be relevant to men’s health
risks, Jean Bonhomme, MD, MPH observed that, "when a boy at age 8 scrapes his
knee, he’s told ‘big boys don’t cry’ .... That teaches him not to listen to
what his body is telling him. What’s going to happen when that boy is 50 years
old and having chest pain?" (p. 2, Shelton, 2000).

It is also thought that social norms likely influence men’s health behaviors
(Addis & Mahalik, 2003; Courtenay, 2000). The implication is that the types of
health risk behaviors that men see other men doing are likely to influence
men’s own health behaviors. We asked both about perceptions of other men along
with women and will explore whether men’s perceptions of others' health
behaviors are related to their own health behaviors.

If our hypotheses are supported, we will better understand what types of
factors block or promote men’s health behaviors. Our plans are to build on any
significant results by designing and evaluating interventions to promote men’s
health.

Resources to Learn More About Men’s Health

If you’d like to learn more about men’s health issues, these resources might
be of interest to you.

NFL site: http://www.nfl.com/tacklingmenshealth

Spike TV site:
http://www.spiketv.com/shows/events/...interact/cuco/

U.S. Health and Human Services: http://www.4woman.gov/mens/index.htm

BBC site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/mens/

Contact Information

If you have questions about the study, Dr. Mahalik can be contacted by phone
at (617) 552-4077 or email at . If at any time you have
questions or concerns about your rights as a participant, please contact the
Boston College Office for Human Research Participant Protection at (617)
552-4778.


--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

In article ,
says...
To do
so, the first question to be answered is why men engage in more health risk
behaviors.

Couldn't possibly be because men evolved as protectors of the women and
children, could it? Naah, can't get any government grants by stating
the obvious.

Well, yes you can, but that's another tirade :-).

--
Homo sapiens is a goal, not a description

lgb wrote in
:

In article ,
says...
To do
so, the first question to be answered is why men engage in more
health risk behaviors.

Couldn't possibly be because men evolved as protectors of the women
and children, could it? Naah, can't get any government grants by
stating the obvious.

Well, yes you can, but that's another tirade :-).


Dr. Mahalik does not have NIH grants (at least not according to CRISP).

Personally, I would be against funding his type of research at a private,
religious college. But then, his type of research isn't my favorite at
all. A definite prejudice, I do admit.

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

Han wrote:
Dr. Mahalik does not have NIH grants (at least not according to CRISP).
Personally, I would be against funding his type of research at a private,
religious college. But then, his type of research isn't my favorite at
all. A definite prejudice, I do admit.

I don't know if you took a look at his survey, I did. Not the
best design I've seen. Many of the questions seemed tailored to
fit the answers available, several didn't really fit unless you
refused to speak English. He beat the "repeat the question to see
if the answer changes" horse to death. I suspect that he came
from the "when did you quit beating your wife" school of
questioning. If you haven't taken the survey, you might want to,
just to see it and skew the results.

Dave in Fairfax
--
Dave Leader
reply-to doesn't work
use:
daveldr at att dot net
American Association of Woodturners
http://www.woodturner.org
Capital Area Woodturners
http://www.capwoodturners.org/
PATINA
http://www.Patinatools.org/

Dave in Fairfax wrote:
....
I don't know if you took a look at his survey, I did. Not the
best design I've seen. Many of the questions seemed tailored to
fit the answers available, several didn't really fit unless you
refused to speak English. He beat the "repeat the question to see
if the answer changes" horse to death. I suspect that he came
from the "when did you quit beating your wife" school of
questioning. ...

I looked through it as well...agree pretty much w/ you, Dave.

There are really only about 5 questions or so and the categorization is,
as seems to be the case in almost all surveys I see anymore, poor at
best for choices.

I was reminded somewhat of the psychological profiles I used to have to
endure for nuclear plant unescorted access...

wrote:
Do you wonder why men in Western societies die before women?

Why men die first is a question that has foxed the medical profession
for years. Hugely expensive studies have failed to provide the answer;
but fifty bucks in the pub did the trick.


If you put a woman on a pedestal and try to protect her from the harsh
world, you're a male chauvinist;
if you stay home and do the housework, you're a pansy.

If you work too hard, there's never any time for her;
if you don't work hard enough, you're a good-for-nothing bum.

If she has a boring repetitive job with low pay, she is being
exploited;
if you have a boring repetitive job with low pay, you should
get off your arse and find something better.

If you get a promotion ahead of her, it's 'jobs for the boys';
if she is promoted out of turn,it's equal opportunity.

If you tell her how nice she looks, it's sexual harassment;
if you say nothing it's cruel indifference.

If you cry, you're a wimp;
if you don't, you're an insensitive *******.

If you make a decision without consulting her, you've treated her as if
she doesn't exist;
if she makes a decision without consulting you, she's an independent
liberated woman.

If you ask her to do something she doesn't enjoy, that's domination;
if she asks you, it's a perfectly reasonable request.

If you appreciate the female form and frilly underwear, you're a pervert;
if you don't, you're gay.

If you like a woman to shave her legs and keep in shape, you're sexist;
if you don't, you couldn't care less about her.

If you try to keep yourself in shape, you're vain;
if you don't, you're a slob.

If you buy her flowers, you're after something;
if you don't, you're thoughtless and unromantic.

If you're proud of your achievements, you're full of yourself;
if you aren't you're a loser.

If she has a headache, she's tired;
if you have a headache, you don't love her anymore.





It seems that men die first because they want to.
It's easier that way.

All the Best John

wrote in message
oups.com...
Do you wonder why men in Western societies die before women?

Did you know that men in Western societies die at higher rates than
women from all 10 of the leading causes of death?


My theory is that it is caused by unsolicited spam.

Therefore you are the cause.

We trust that you will take appropriate measures.

Being a dedicated, ethical researcher and all.

I think that other societies of men work themselves to death and don't
play like the western men do. Also they all like to fight in wars.
Western men are passive.



htmlbody bgcolor="black"


text="white"/html

That's simple who needs a survey
1) Men engage in more occupations that are life threatening than women.
2) More western medical research dollars are spent on female medicine.
3) Men willing trade their lives to save women
4) Men are typically " fiscally raped" in the female oriented court system
resulting in an enormous suicide rate.
5) Young black males have an exceedingly high suicide rate tipping the male
death numbers according, maybe the good Doctor should spend his time on
that.
6) Men in general have become socially neutered during the last several
decades during the feminist era. This clearly has a general affect on males
and typically promotes a mentality of "lifes not worth living" or this
mental state is chemically induced with the over prescription of mood
altering drugs like prozak.
7) 92% of all fundamental education is now performed by women. The result of
the fact that women can't teach boy's how to be men has clearly affeted the
lifespan of young males in modern society. What used to be playground rough
housing has become a typical excuse to
chemically alter the behavior of the children or ending in extreme violence
that is seen more and more in earlier ages.

In article 1113828847.a8b1499be1d21fd073bb0a83de04619a@teran ews, "Knothead" wrote:
That's simple who needs a survey
[...]
2) More western medical research dollars are spent on female medicine.

False. In fact, one of the biggest problems in western medicine is that
research efforts *neglect* the health of women. In particular, enormous sums
of money are spent on the treatment and prevention of heart disease, which
predominantly kills men.

[...]
5) Young black males have an exceedingly high suicide rate tipping the male
death numbers according

False again. Suicide is actually comparatively *rare* among blacks, who as a
group are much *less* likely to kill themselves than people of _any_other_
ethnicity.

In 2002, there were only 351 suicides among black males aged 15-24, vs. 2919
for white males in the same age group.

Overall, suicide rates are highest among *whites*, followed by native
Americans.

The leading cause of death for young black males is not suicide, but
*homicide*, followed by accident, and only then by suicide.

In 2002 (latest year with complete data on CDC's web site), the top three
causes of death in these groups a

Black males aged 15-24
- homicide 2582 deaths
- accident 1298
- suicide 351 (6.5% of all deaths)

White males aged 15-24
- accident 9679
- suicide 2919 (16.1% of all deaths)
- homicide 1748

Suicides in the 15-24 age group, as a percentage of all deaths:
- native American males, 19.2%
- white males, 16.1%
- Asian/Pacific males, 14.8%
- native American females, 12.0%
- Asian/Pacific females, 9.0%
- white females, 7.4%
- black males, 6.5%
- black females, 3.1%

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/suifacts.htm
http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/leadcaus10.html

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Yeah your correct on #5, I was referencing info from mens news daily and
the remarks we're the more politically correct "males of color". I can only
assume it refers to native and Alaskan Americans as well as black and
hispanics as people of color. I miss quoted.
Point being made is gender not racial.
I would argue your stand on female medicine. Your reference to heart disease
would cross gender boundaries for the most part but that arguement quickly
digresses into Viagra vs Midol. I don't think prostate or testicular cancer
has received the same national attention as breast cancer. Lance Armstrong
has done more for mens health in the last few years than what I would
consider most of the traditional sources Osteo is an interesting argument
but while reseach tells us that is why older women have bad backs it doesn't
address why men have worn out backs (IMLTHO). It just seems to me the the
American male is viewed as disposable.

Knothead

"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
In article 1113828847.a8b1499be1d21fd073bb0a83de04619a@teran ews,
"Knothead" wrote:
That's simple who needs a survey
[...]
2) More western medical research dollars are spent on female medicine.

False. In fact, one of the biggest problems in western medicine is that
research efforts *neglect* the health of women. In particular, enormous sums
of money are spent on the treatment and prevention of heart disease, which
predominantly kills men.

[...]
5) Young black males have an exceedingly high suicide rate tipping the male
death numbers according

False again. Suicide is actually comparatively *rare* among blacks, who as a
group are much *less* likely to kill themselves than people of _any_other_
ethnicity.

In 2002, there were only 351 suicides among black males aged 15-24, vs. 2919
for white males in the same age group.

Overall, suicide rates are highest among *whites*, followed by native
Americans.

The leading cause of death for young black males is not suicide, but
*homicide*, followed by accident, and only then by suicide.

In 2002 (latest year with complete data on CDC's web site), the top three
causes of death in these groups a

Black males aged 15-24
- homicide 2582 deaths
- accident 1298
- suicide 351 (6.5% of all deaths)

White males aged 15-24
- accident 9679
- suicide 2919 (16.1% of all deaths)
- homicide 1748

Suicides in the 15-24 age group, as a percentage of all deaths:
- native American males, 19.2%
- white males, 16.1%
- Asian/Pacific males, 14.8%
- native American females, 12.0%
- Asian/Pacific females, 9.0%
- white females, 7.4%
- black males, 6.5%
- black females, 3.1%

http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/suifacts.htm
http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/leadcaus10.html

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

In article 1113844163.12f63ceb5fd733e77df23e55297cad5a@teran ews, "Knothead" wrote:
Yeah your correct on #5, I was referencing info from mens news daily and
the remarks we're the more politically correct "males of color". I can only
assume it refers to native and Alaskan Americans as well as black and
hispanics as people of color. I miss quoted.
Point being made is gender not racial.

When the suicide rate for white females is higher than for black males, it's
hard to argue that the differences in the rates are exclusively, or even
primarily, gender-based. I think it's pretty clear that there *is* a racial
component (more specifically, I think it's probably a *cultural* component
that is *associated* with racial or ethnic identity).

I would argue your stand on female medicine. Your reference to heart disease
would cross gender boundaries for the most part

Not so. Prior to the age of menopause, heart disease is substantially less
common in women than in men of the same age.

but that arguement quickly
digresses into Viagra vs Midol. I don't think prostate or testicular cancer
has received the same national attention as breast cancer.

There's a reason for that. Testicular cancer is *far* less common than breast
cancer. And prostate cancer, while fairly common, usually isn't a problem
unless it occurs in middle age. In the elderly, the conventional treatment for
most prostate cancers is to do nothing, because the patient is likely to die
of other causes first. Breast cancer, OTOH, is almost uniformly fatal if not
treated.


--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt.
And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?