Answering the calls of Anderson and Bresnahan (2013) and Weiss, Ramakrishna, and Somma (2006) to explore the gender and cultural dimensions of illness-specific stigma, we examined how popular magazines targeting women and men in the US portrayed mental illness between 2009 and 2013 through a theory-driven content analysis.

The magazines we examined include:

Women’s magazines: Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Shape, Self.

Men’s magazines: GQ, Esquire, Details, Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness

We found that women’s magazines tend to present a more positive coverage of mental illnesses by citing patients, adopting human interest discourse, and using challenge cues such as hope than men’s magazines. 

• In terms of major topics covered, both women’s and men’s magazines paid most attention to depression, stress, and anxiety,
• Both men’s and women’s magazines were more likely attribute mental health issues to individual causes rather than social causes.
• Women’s magazines are more likely to give a human face to mental illnesses than men’s magazines.
• Women’s magazines are more hopeful than men’s magazines in coving mental illness, even though both project a lack of optimism, social inclusion and fight.

Yang, Y., Tang, L., & Bie, B. (2017). Portrayals of mental illnesses in women’s and men’s magazines in the United States. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly,94(3), 793-811. doi: 10.1177/1077699016644559 [Full article]