Why is it that men get dangerously addictive to things more than women? (addiction, fixate)
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I understand that women can as well, but if you look at most things whether it be video games, drugs, alcohol, gambling, spending money excessively, any other kind of obsession etc. men have a significantly higher rate at getting addicted to things, especially when it negatively effects their lives than women. Why?
I think that may be a false assumption. There are still a lot of misconceptions about addiction in modern society and with that comes denial and failure of detection.
Another reason, in spite of women's equality, the idea of a woman drug addict or alcoholic still has more of a stigma than for a man so perhaps women have become more skilled at hiding their addictions.
Treatment statistics - for every man out of ten who enter treatment nine of them have a supportive partner but for women the statistics are reversed so women are more apt to be abandoned during addiction and not show up in the count by not receiving help.
Elderly women are nearly overlooked as addicts.
And finally, if you count food and shopping addictions you may see a huge number of women involved in those which can be more of an "invisible" addiction."
Not specifically about 'dangerous' addictions but more a general observation about men's activities/interests and how they focus as opposed to women. It seems men, in my experience, are often more narrow in their range of interests. Males are said to be more compartmentalized in their thought processes as well. It appears many have a few specific interests where women often tend to have more varied, diverse ones. Again, general, but men often 'zone in and tune out' or fixate when they're doing things. They can shut out external interruptions or are at least more preoccupied when they're in the zone.
Women, still general, being multi-taskers, tend to be more attentionally available maybe by socialization as well as by nature. Women can focus deeply when their environment allows but they tend to be more alert to external and social cues.
Whether it be sports, cars/mechanics, tech stuff, music, woodworking, finances or even a chore like mowing the lawn or just watching a movie, when men are into it they seem really into it. If the activity isn't enjoyable, the singular focus may just be on getting the task done.
Our brains are hard-wired differently in a number of ways (like language development and use). I wonder if this narrow attentional focus/compartmentalization and the tendency to zone in/tune out in many men contributes to a higher incidence of addictive behaviors including the more dangerous kind?
You are talking about what most people call addiction
and ignoring the ones that women get addicted to .... shopping, TV show, soap opera, medication, etc.
You are talking about what most people call addiction
and ignoring the ones that women get addicted to .... shopping, TV show, soap opera, medication, etc.
There are so many possible types of addictions. Difference in rates of addiction btw males and females could vary depending on the type of addiction.
Not specifically about 'dangerous' addictions but more a general observation about men's activities/interests and how they focus as opposed to women. It seems men, in my experience, are often more narrow in their range of interests. Males are said to be more compartmentalized in their thought processes as well. It appears many have a few specific interests where women often tend to have more varied, diverse ones. Again, general, but men often 'zone in and tune out' or fixate when they're doing things. They can shut out external interruptions or are at least more preoccupied when they're in the zone.
Women, still general, being multi-taskers, tend to be more attentionally available maybe by socialization as well as by nature. Women can focus deeply when their environment allows but they tend to be more alert to external and social cues.
Whether it be sports, cars/mechanics, tech stuff, music, woodworking, finances or even a chore like mowing the lawn or just watching a movie, when men are into it they seem really into it. If the activity isn't enjoyable, the singular focus may just be on getting the task done.
Our brains are hard-wired differently in a number of ways (like language development and use). I wonder if this narrow attentional focus/compartmentalization and the tendency to zone in/tune out in many men contributes to a higher incidence of addictive behaviors including the more dangerous kind?
To be fair I think there's a positive and negative aspect about that. On one hand men doing a better job at comparimintalizing does help in getting tasks done. Whereas on the other it means if they happen to go down a dark path or getting involved in something bad they can focus on it to much. But for women even though we are known as multi-taskers the fact is it in actuality isn't helpful and no one is really good at it. This is a great video that explains it:
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