Experience of a researcher | Aranka Ballering

My name’s Aranka Ballering, I’m a PhD candidate at the ICPE in the group of Judith Rosmalen. My PhD research revolves around how sex and gender interact, and affect common somatic symptoms.

Could you tell us more about your research?

"In many of my projects I work with Lifelines data. We used Lifelines baseline data, for example, to assess how biological sex and psychosocial gender associate with the prevalence of somatic symptoms. Biological sex is often considered as a dichotomy (although intersex variations challenge this), and thus relatively straightforward to capture during surveys. In contrast, to capture gender in surveys is difficult. Gender goes beyond how someone identifies his/her/themselves; it also entails the roles someone fulfills based on societal expectations and norms for women and men." 

It seems complex, what can you share with us?

"To include gender in Lifelines’ epidemiological studies, we calculated a data-driven gender index. This index captures to what extent Lifelines participants adhere to feminine and masculine gender roles. By using the gender index, we found that female sex and femininity independently associate with common somatic symptoms (read here). In another study, we found that female sex and femininity have an independent association with the long-term trajectories of somatic symptoms (read here). We showed that although female sex was associated with a severe, but stable symptom course, femininity was not. Femininity also protected from worsening symptoms over time. Possibly, feminine people seek help earlier in their symptom trajectory or disease process, relating to a lower symptoms burden over time."

What is more to explore?

"Whether femininity truly relates to help-seeking behavior remains for now unknown. To answer this question, Lifelines data from 2006-2018 is linked to the NIVEL primary care database. Additionally, in Lifelines’ latest measurement wave a question on gender identity is included, allowing for the effect of gender identity on health to be assessed. All in all, there’s still much to learn about how sex and gender shape health!"