INTRODUCTION
Sex and gender are closely related constructs that play an essential yet understudied role in the development of eating disorders (EDs). Sex refers to biological characteristics, including genetics (e.g., sex chromosomes), physiology (e.g., sex hormones), and anatomy (e.g., the reproductive system) (Clayton & Tannenbaum, 2016; Tannenbaum et al., 2016). Generally, sex is assigned at birth and considered a dichotomous variable; however, intersex individuals are a group of people that transcend sex as a binary construct due to their diversity in sexual characteristics. In contrast, gender refers to a psychosocial phenomenon (Clayton & Tannenbaum, 2016; Swaab et al., 2021; Tannenbaum et al., 2016) that is modulated by environmental forces and can fluctuate throughout life (Tannenbaum et al., 2016). Gender includes gender identity (i.e., how individuals define themselves), gender roles (i.e., social norms and stereotypes related to masculinity and femininity), and gender relations (i.e., interactions between individuals according to their gender and the expectations placed on them by society) (Clayton & Tannenbaum, 2016; Tannenbaum et al., 2016). For further definitions, a glossary of key terms used in this review can be found in Table 1. Given the close interaction between biology and environment, gender and sex are two interacting constructs that must be appropriately considered in research (i.e., they should not be used interchangeably) (Clayton & Tannenbaum, 2016; DuBois et al., 2021; Howard et al., 2017; Tannenbaum et al., 2016). The term gender/sex has been used in previous literature to represent the interaction between gender and sex as well as the recognition that these biological and sociocultural constructs are often intertwined (Hyde et al., 2019).
Pour consulter l’aticle complet, cliquez sur le lien ci-contre : Gender and sex in eating disorders: A narrative review of the current state of knowledge, research gaps, and recommendations – Breton – 2023 – Brain and Behavior – Wiley Online Library