Study says males exaggerate ills

Chris Keogh prefers to work through minor sickness. Photo / Janna Dixon

It's what many women have long suspected, but men are prone to attention-seeking when they're not feeling well, according to new research.

A study in the United Kingdom has determined how much blokes suffer - or how much they think they do - from illness and an Auckland psychotherapist say the findings are mirrored here.

The study of 3000 people, for Engage Mutual Assurance, found almost half of men exaggerate their symptoms when sick.

Partners of men surveyed claimed 57 per cent become attention-seekers when ill, and 65 per cent constantly moaned and groaned.

But the survey also found three-quarters of men would rather work than stay at home if they had a cold, and were good at dishing out sympathy when their partners were sick.

Auckland psychotherapist Isabella Van Hoyle agreed with part of the survey.

"If men get sick it can get blown more out of proportion than it really is."

She said needy men's behaviour could be triggered by how their mothers cared for them when they were young.

Women are generally more in tune with their bodies and know how serious something may be, said Van Hoyle.

But men spoken to in Auckland this week dismised the survey.

Project manager Chris Keogh, 42, said he wouldn't tell people he had the flu when he had a cold because he knew the difference between them.

He preferred to work through minor sickness, but his company doesn't allow it.

Marketing worker Gary Taylor, 36, said the findings were "nonsense reinforcing a stereotype".

"When I get a cold, I say I have a cold. Same with most of the men I know. Maybe around their wives some men play it up for sympathy. But I don't."

Student Joseph Northey, 19, said his mum, not him, worried about his ailments.

"I just moved out of home six months ago and Mum is worried enough as it is. If I say I have a runny nose a few days later a parcel arrives with medicine and healthy food."

Construction contractor Tom Stephenson, 41, said office workers are more likely to exaggerate symptoms.

"I know a couple of guys who spend all day in front of a computer and overall I think they are a bit softer then the rest of us.

"I reckon it's probably them dragging us down and then all men get hassled for it."