Gender differences in factors affecting use of health services: An analysis of a community study of middle-aged and older Australians

Abstract

Research on patterns of self-rated health and health service use suggests that women report having poorer health than men, and that, after controlling for health measures, women are more likely to obtain formal health care. Proposed reasons for these differences have included that women's self-rated health is more strongly influenced by psychosocial factors or negative affect and that women are likely to obtain services when at better levels of self-rated health, compared with men. Our study explored gender differences in the effects of non-health attributes on decisions to obtain primary medical services for an Australian community-based sample of 4140 adults from two age groups: 40-44 year..