Abstract

ALVES, Nuno Correia  and  FIGUEIRAS, Maria João. Queixas subjectivas de saúde, afectividade negativa e utilização de serviços de saúde: Diferenças de género. Aná. Psicológica [online]. 2007, vol.25, n.3, pp.415-425. ISSN 0870-8231.

The aims of this study are to investigate what are the subjective health complaints (SHC) in a healthy population and the extent to which there are gender diffe-rences in SHC, in negative affectivity (NA) and in the use of health care services. This is a cross-sectional design in which 1113 participants (64% female) completed a self-administered questionnaire, including measures of SHC, NA, use of health care services and demographic information. The results indicate that there are gender differences concerning the SHC, and the most frequent were the pseudoneurology complaints, musculoskeletal pain, and allergy, as well as in the total scale. Also, women are more likely to use health care services. There were no gender differences in negative affectivity. This topic of research is an important contribution to characterize the SHC in the Portuguese population, which may have important implications for physical and psychological health. Furthermore, these results may provide relevant information concerning gender differences in health complaints and subsequent health related behaviour.

Keywords : Subjective health complaints; negative affectivity; health care utilization; gender.

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