assignment

Delaney Rios

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Women outlive men in most countries, including the united states. Mainly, women are less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases, less likely to perform risky activities, have strong social networks, and take better care of their health. 

In some countries, men live long, and most of these countries tend to have low-income. Due to being poorer countries, they lack essential health services leading to more maternal death. These countries also tend to favor sons, leading to "missing women," where female fetuses are more likely to be aborted due to deep-seated cultural preferences. 

Some factors to the differences in men and women start biologically. For example, females are more likely to survive in the womb due to being less at risk for prenatal infections. Female estrogen also plays a part in lessening the risk of heart disease until after menopause, while men can succumb to heart diseases as early as their 30s or 40s. Men's frontal lobes also develop slower than women, making men more likely to be risk-takers, causing life-threatening unintentional injuries.

Other factors that help women live longer than men are having better social networks and taking care of their health. When people have strong social network connections, reach out and talk to relieve stress, have a 50% lower chance of dying early. Men are more known to hold stress close to their chest. Women also take better care of their health and listen to their bodies when they believe something is wrong, while men are more likely to deny anything is wrong and let illnesses worsen. 

References:

Berk, L. E. (2018). Exploring lifespan development. Pearson Education. 

Charlton, E. (2019, April 9). Across the world, women outlive men. this is why. World Economic Forum. Retrieved March 15, 2022, from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/04/why-women-outlive-men/ 

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