Open AccessPsychology’s medicalization of male baldness
Author(s) -
Glen Jankowski,
Hannah Frith
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of health psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1461-7277
pISSN - 1359-1053
DOI - 10.1177/13591053211024724
Subject(s) - medicalization , male pattern baldness , psychosocial , psychology , clinical psychology , medicine , developmental psychology , psychiatry , dermatology , scalp
Male baldness is physically benign though it is increasingly described as a “disease” based on claims that it is profoundly distressing. The medicalization of baldness was assessed using data extracted from a review of 37 male baldness psychosocial impact studies. Findings revealed most studies likely had commercial influences (78%), represented baldness as a disease (77%), were conducted on biased samples (68%), and advocated for baldness products/services (60%), omitting their limitations (68%). Health psychologists should challenge baldness medicalization so that men can make informed choices about what, if anything, they do with their baldness.