Why Men Die Earlier? By Bridget Murray: Article Analysis

A survey was conducted by Sherrill L. Sellers (Miami University of Ohio), Harold W. Neighbors, (University of Michigan), and Vence L. Bonham (Michigan State University) in order to address the interaction between goal-oriented stress and overall well being in 399 college-educated African American associated with a historically black national fraternal organization all over the world. Mental health of African American male populations is poorly understood due to unique social, racial, and psychological variables. Although many black men deem success possible, a great number identify resistance to success in the form of prejudice, discrimination, and minimal opportunities in comparison with their white counterpart.

People were less likely to face poor retirement if they worked in managerial or professional jobs than someone who worked in unskilled or manual occupations. This is because the people who worked in manual would have earned lower wages and would not be as likely to get a private pension. Men that are in the professional classes have a life expectancy of 80 years from birth. However men from unskilled or manual classes have a life expectancy of 78.1 years. This also effects woman’s life expectancy as woman from professional classes have a life expectancy of 85.1 compared to those who are in the unskilled or manual classes and their life expectancy if 78.1 years. Causes of death also vary from different social classes. In the higher social classes it is less likely to suffer from, lung cancer, coronary heart disease, stokes and respiratory diseases. All of these increase within social disadvantages.

Many problems are facing African American males. Few people are knowledgeable of the disparity between African American males and females as it relates to incarceration, homicide, suicide, alcoholism, and many other ailments (p. 9).

There are many different factors that can increase your chance of becoming ill and dying. The different factors are social class, gender, age and ethnicity. The different social groups I will look at are social class and gender. I am going to look into how these affect health; I will also explain the pattern and trends. I am using gender because it fits in with the sociological perspective feminism and social class fits in with Marxism.

In chapter 1, Equality mentions that men usually do not an age pass 45. This could be so because of the level of scientific discovery. The main giveaway is when this is stated, “We learned how to bleed men to cure them of all aliments” (Rand 23). This is the material taught in school and the information is extremely dated mirroring the early 1800s. In addition and most likely a result of the low development of science that could add the low life expectancy is the undeveloped technology.

Life expectancy in the human race has risen dramatically in the past century reaching its highest level for both male and female on record. Between 1981 and 2002 life expectancy at age 50 increases by four and a half years for men and three years for women and two years respectively. By 2002 women who were age of 65 could expect to live to the age of 84 while men could expect to live to the age of 81.

The men and women of "The Hours" view death as an escape from an ordinary lifestyle which lacks anything truly extraordinary or exhilarating. Laura Brown considers death as an alternative to the constraints of her role as a mother and a wife. Both Richard Brown and Virginia Woolf ultimately commit suicide in order to escape their illnesses and their failures to live up to society's expectations. Though Laura does not end her life, she does die symbolically to her family.

Another influence on life expectancy in the United States is preventative health measures. Typically education, income level, geographic location (in a city versus in the country or closer to medical assistance versus less access to medical assistance) and race are major factors on life expectancy. People who live in poverty have poor health, typically from malnutrition, stress and possible exposure to elements such as physical abuse, alcoholism, inadequate or nonexistent housing and drug addictions. Weight is an important factor in affecting health. Being underweight is unhealthy but so is being overweight. Unfortunately, 54.7% of all American adults are overweight and 19.5% are obese. Poverty also plays a factor, as 28.7% of women in poverty are considered to be overweight and 21.7% of men compared to 13.7% of women and 17.7% of men in higher income groups. Interestingly, women are 49.5% more likely than men to be a healthy weight. Only 36.3% of men are estimated to be at a healthy weight. (Tischler 2007). This is a factor in heart disease in men and a possible influence in their higher risk factor at a younger age. Americans with higher education level and more income also tend to have better access to

-the researchers focused on a disadvantage social group. The entire study were poor and African American men.

Corr, C. A., Corr, D. M., & Bordere, T. C. (2013). Death & dying, life & living. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

“African American communities are populated by men who are too weak and by women who are too strong”. In my opinion, this sentence alone fully summarizes chapter 6 of our Black Sexuality and Health text. It has become a norm in the Black community to suggest that strengthening “weak” Black men is the best way to fight racism and to reverse African American poverty. African American women are constantly viewed as “too strong”, and unwilling to accept help for others including her Black man. The tremendous strength of Black women has caused for counseling to “let” Black men lead and also has led to African American men and women being encouraged to blame one another for economic, political, and social problems within African

Crimmins, Hayward, Ueda Saito and Kim in there journal article give statistical data on heart disease and death in both women and men (2008). This article states “37 percent of men and 27 percent of women over the age 65 report having a heart condition” (Crimmins et al., 2008). Crimmins research addresses the many differences in men with coronary artery disease compared to women with coronary artery disease. The study noted that men have a higher mortality rate from heart disease than do women (Crimmins et al., 2008). This article also notes that “40-50 percent of postmenopausal women will develop heart disease” (Crimmins et al., 2008). Crimmins and colleges noted men develop heart disease 5 to 10 years earlier in life than do women ( 2008). Evidence suggests that women who are hospitalized for cardiovascular issues are less likely to “receive certain types of drugs and diagnostic and treatment procedures” (Crimmins et al., 2008). Low socio-economic status and poor educational levels also have a marked effect on men and women’s knowledge of cardiovascular disease and the timing of when they seek treatment (Hemingway, 2007).

Controversy has never been limited to whether there is or there is not an increment in weekend mortality rate, but extended to causes behind this suggested higher mortality rate. The list of possible reasons are many; for example some authors speculated that although lower staffing levels at the weekend could have an effect, patients with more urgent conditions, those who cannot wait to see a doctor on Monday, are admitted more frequently at the weekend (1). Emergency surgical interventions, with probably more dangerous events, is therefore more frequently done at the weekend than on other weekdays (7). Moreover Mortality rate was also higher in hospitals with fewer nurses and physicians on duty at weekends and these findings led

Susie Steiner in her article “Top five regrets of the dying” an informational piece Implicitly states that most people do not live their lives as they feel they should have.

The Hours is a movie that won the most awards in 2002.The movie is mainly about relationships, love, and death. This movie follows a single day in the lives of three women in different time periods between 1941 to 2001.The clothes that all three of these women wore were from different time periods. It is apparent from this movie that throughout history women were faced with trials and tribulations. Through each of their lives they battled with their own identity and the roles that they should play in society. In fact, this movie is mostly based on three women and their reflection on the novel Mrs. Dalloway. Virginia Woolf is the author of the novel Mrs. Dalloway, accordingly Laura Brown, reads