Biological Sex and Mental Health Outcomes

An individual’s biological sex, or assigned sex at birth, can potentially contribute to a variety of mental health outcomes. Sex and biological sex are terms used to indicate biologically determined characteristics (e.g., chromosomes, reproductive organs, secondary sex characteristics, and hormones). These characteristics usually define whether an individual will be labeled a male or female. On the other hand, gender relates to socially constructed indicators of male and female presentation. According to the gender role expectations perpetuated in society, men/boys and women/girls are encouraged to look, feel, and behave in a manner congruent with their gender. The term cisgender reflects an individual whose identity matches the sex assigned at birth, while the term transgender refers to an individual whose identity does not match the sex ...

  • Loading...
locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles