Be a Man & pass the hanky, will you?

Behind every tough-minded man lurks a tender and fragile individual, according to a study that has found boys may be more sensitive than girls.

By the time a boy is born, he is, on average, four to six weeks less developed than a newborn girl, said Sebastian Kraemer, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist from Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust in London.

For instance, boys performed less well at school than girls, they were more prone to diabetes, drug abuse, alcoholism and lung cancer and were more likely to commit suicide.

"However, the more developmental problems there are, the more sensitive care is required."

Dr Kraemer said that some of the problems of the male could be linked to evolution. Survival skills required by our male ancestors, such as spear-throwing or calculating physical risk, were less appropriate today.

"Male advantages in physical strength and spatial skills were probably more useful in the past," he said.

(Extracts from article - The Sunday Age, December 24, 2000)

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