Sex roles, occupational roles, and symptom-reporting : a test of competing hypotheses on sex differences

The sick-role, fixed-role obligations, symptom-reporting, and nurturant-role hypotheses of sex differences in utilization of health services and symptom-reporting were tested against each other. Fifty-one nontraditional college students completed the Cornell Medical Index (CMI), the Bem Sex Role Inventory, and questions regarding their employment status. Employment status and feminine characteristics emerged as the best predictors of symptom-reporting on the CMI and suggested that the sick-role hypothesis may be empirically superior to the others.