PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Margot I. Jackson
AU  - Susan E. Short
TI  - Gender Differences in Biological Function in Young Adulthood: An Intragenerational Perspective
AID  - 10.7758/RSF.2018.4.4.06
DP  - 2018 Apr 01
TA  - RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
PG  - 98--119
VI  - 4
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/4/4/98.short
4100  - http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/4/4/98.full
AB  - Sex-gender differences in health are a function of social and biological factors and their interplay over the life course. A large body of research documents sex-gender as a determinant of health behavior and outcomes. Far less scholarship examines how these differences are reflected in physiologic function in young adulthood. Using nationally representative, longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we examine the relationship between gender and biological function in young adulthood. We also examine the contribution of social and economic circumstances in childhood and early adulthood to gender differences in health. The findings reveal strong gender differences in information and immune function, which are robust to the inclusion of many indicators of the social environment.