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--- gender_index [2020/08/19 17:06]
laura [Calculation derivative variable]
+++ gender_index [2020/11/20 10:57]
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 ====== Gender index ======
-Adult [[start|Lifelines]] participants completed [[1A|baseline]] questions on a broad range of topics, enabling researchers from the [[https://www.rug.nl/staff/a.v.ballering/research|University Medical Center Groningen]] to calculate a gender index.
+Researchers from the [[https://www.rug.nl/staff/a.v.ballering/research|University Medical Center Groningen]] calculated a gender index for adult [[start|Lifelines]] participants based on [[1A|baseline]] questions on a broad range of topics, in order to facilitate the research into the role of gender versus sex in healthy ageing.\\
+Notably, biological [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex|sex]] and psychosocial [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender|gender]] are not the same concepts. Sex refers to the biological characteristics, included but not limited to genes, anatomy, hormones of males and females. Gender, in contrast, entails the embodiment of different roles, behaviors, identities, and relationships of men and women prescribed by societal norms, that result in different social expectations, opportunities and experiences for women and men in a given society. Gender and its embodiment is dynamic over time, while biological sex is mostly stable.\\
-The gender index can be requested in the Lifelines catalogue or by mail (data@lifelines.nl). When this data has been used in your research, you will have to include a reference to the reference paper listed below.
+The gender index is a continuum, ranging from 0% ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masculinity|masculinity]]) to 100% ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Femininity|femininity]]). A gender index of 50% indicates androgyny, where equal levels of feminine and masculine characteristics are present ([[sections]]: [[demographics]] ([[sex & gender]]) and [[secondary & linked variables]]).
-===== Reference paper =====
+The gender index can be requested in the Lifelines catalogue or by mail (data@lifelines.nl). When this data has been used in your research, you will have to include a reference to the following paper:
-[[https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112968|Ballering A.V., Bonvanie I.J., olde Hartman T.C., Monden R., Rosmalen J.G.M. (2020) Gender and sex independently associate with common somatic symptoms and lifetime prevalence of chronic disease. Social Science & Medicine.]] \\
+  * [[https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112968|Ballering A.V., Bonvanie I.J., olde Hartman T.C., Monden R., Rosmalen J.G.M. (2020) Gender and sex independently associate with common somatic symptoms and lifetime prevalence of chronic disease. Social Science & Medicine 253, 112968]].
 ===== Data selection =====
-Participants had to meet several participants in order to be included in the calculation of the gender index:
+Participants had to meet several criteria in order to be included in the calculation:
-  * Participant completed the adult baseline questionnaire
+  * Participants have completed the adult [[1A|baseline]] questionnaires
-  * Participants had their DNA analyzed in GWAS
+  * Participants have their DNA analyzed in [[GWAS|GWAS]]
-  * Participants with no intersex condition or non-conform gender identity
+  * Participants had no suspected intersex condition or non-conform gender identity
-These selections resulted in a subsample of N=13,321 Lifelines participants to construct the gender index.\\
+This selection resulted in the inclusion of N=13,321 adult Lifelines participants in a subsample, which was used to calculate the gender index.\\
-\\
-Additionally, a variable selection was performed. Where the researchers included all psychological and social variables, as long as they met the following two criteria:
+All psychological and social variables are included in the model to construct the gender index, as far as these meet both of the following criteria:
   * The variable is not reflecting a momentary emotional state that strongly fluctuates over short time periods
   * The variable has less than 40% missing values
-The included variables (N=153) cover three of the four gender aspects (gender roles, gender dynamics, and institutionalized gender). More detailed information on the selection process can be found in the reference article.\\
+In total, 153 variables have been included in the calculation of the gender index. These variables cover three of the four gender aspects (i.e. gender roles, gender dynamics and institutionalized gender). More detailed information on the selection process can be found in the reference article.\\
 \\
 ===== Calculation derivative variable =====
-To construct the gender index, selected variables were entered into an elastic net regularized generalized linear model with sex as dichotomous outcome. The participants were randomly assigned to a trainingset (80%) and a testing set (20%). Where the trainingset was used to estimate coefficients and the testing set was used to calculate the model's predictive accuracy.
+To construct the gender index, 245 (dummy) variables, derived from the 153 selected variables were entered into an elastic net regularized generalized linear model, with sex as a dichotomous outcome. The participants were randomly assigned to a trainingset (80%) and a testset (20%). The trainingset was used to estimate regression coefficients, whereas the testing set was used to calculate the developed model’s predictive accuracy. Ultimately, an alpha = 1.0 was found to be the optimal regularization parameter, equaling a LASSO logistic regression. Of the initial 245 potentially sex-related variables, 92 were excluded from the model and 153 (dummy) variables remained representing 85 unique variables. The model’s AUC was 92%.
-Estimates of the coefficients (AUC 92%) obtained through the aforementioned regression ultimately formed the basis of the compisite gender idex that was applied to each adult Lifelines participant.\\
+The estimates of the coefficients obtained through the aforementioned regression formed the basis of the composite gender index that was applied to each adult Lifelines participant. \\
 \\
 **Derivative variable**\\
-The resulting variable from this analysis is the gender index. This variable is a continuum, ranging from 0% to 100%, and represents the probability of individual being a woman (higher gender index = more feminine characteristics). Androgyny is indicated by an index of 50%, where equal levels of feminine and masculine characteristics are present.\\
+The resulting variable from this analysis is the gender index. This variable is a continuum, ranging from 0% (masculinity) to 100% (femininity). A gender index of 50% indicates androgyny, where equal levels of feminine and masculine characteristics are present.\\
 \\
+===== Publications using the Gender Index =====
+  * Ballering AV et al. (2020) Gender and sex independently associate with common somatic symptoms and lifetime prevalence of chronic disease. Social Science & Medicine 253, 112968
+  * Ballering AV et al. (2020) Female sex and femininity independently associate with common somatic symptom trajectories. Psychological Medicine (in press)
-===== Papers using the Lifelines gender index =====
-  * Ballering A.V., Bonvanie I.J., olde Hartman T.C., Monden R., Rosmalen J.G.M. (2020) Gender and sex independently associate with common somatic symptoms and lifetime prevalence of chronic disease. Social Science & Medicine.
-  * ...

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