University Honors

One thoroughly researched yet unexplained phenomenon is that women live longer than men on average. However, a 2023 study by Shawn Bauldry defined years lived free of serious physical or mental disability as “disability-free years.” While Bauldry’s research focused on comparisons between race and ethnic groups, his results also highlighted that women live longer than men despite experiencing more years with a disability. Curiously, Bauldry’s paper did not explore the potential factors explaining why women are more likely to develop a disability earlier in life than men. Therefore, this paper will conduct an integrative review on the factors contributing to this health disparity. By identifying and synthesizing current literature, this review aims to better understand how debilitating conditions are shaped by biological structures and gender inequities. Existing literature was collected on the biological and psychosocial factors of the three most common disabilities in women: low back pain, headaches, and depression. These three conditions were analyzed due to their prevalence in womens’ global health issues and their unexplored complex interplay of factors. The findings reveal a positive correlation between depression and stressful life events, such as emotional abuse and poverty. Additionally, biological factors such as fluctuating hormone levels during the menstrual cycle and pregnancy, increase the risk of chronic headaches, low back pain, and depression. Furthermore, medical professionals’ reliance on the biomedical approach rather than the biopsychosocial approach, creates a barrier for chronic pain intervention. Overall, these factors elucidate the psychosocial and biological complexities between disability-free years and gender. This paper concludes with solutions, such as intersectional health research and programs broadening the implementation of the biopsychosocial model in healthcare.