Popular beliefs of women and men in the face of aging
Introduction
From the same process of conception to death, aging is a phenomenon present throughout the life cycle, however, it is a difficult stage of life as a reality that is unavoidable for all people (Alvarado García & Salazar Maya, 2014). In 2016, the average life expectancy at birth was 72 years old, but when this average is divided between women and men, the female average is 74 years and two months against 69 years and eight months of Men according to the World Health Organization. The sources consulted show that women live more than men, scientifically it has been shown that there are three main reasons: for genetic composition, hormones, occupation and behavior (BBC News Mundo, 2019).
Genetic composition
‘Male embryos die at a greater pace than female embryos,’ says Professor David Gems of the University College London.
‘Male babies have between 20 and 30 percent more likely to die in the last stage of pregnancy. They also have 14 percent more likely to be born prematurely. They tend to be larger and suffer a greater risk of injuries during childbirth, ”says Lorna Harries, a professor at the University of Exeter.
Hormonal
"The mortality rate in men increases drastically in recent years of adolescence, when their testosterone levels rise, responsible for making the body bigger and stronger"
"Female sexual hormone helps fight bad cholesterol that causes heart disease"
Occupation and behavior
"According to the University of Alabama, in Western societies women visit the doctor more, take more medications, lose more days of health for health reasons and spend more days in the hospital than men"
"In places full of conflicts, male life expectancy decreases with speed"
There is a number of beliefs, myths and stereotypes that surround the aging process related to losses, functional disability and the standardization of diseases and cognitive problems, which do not always have to do with reality (major portal, s.d). There is a tendency to homogenize older people in everything, their diversity is ignored, emphasis on the denialist vision of aging and discriminatory stereotypes about older people (Freixas, 1997). The purpose of research is to know popular and/or traditional perception that, if aging is the same between women and men. The gender perspective gives space to understanding the differentiating aspects of aging in seemingly similar situations (arbor & ginn, 1996).
Aging is not a universal phenomenon, but there are itineraries and modes of age different for each culture, society and even social groups. The notion of differential aging revealed, among other things, that women and men have differentiated modes of aging, of conceiving aging, of dealing with it and meaning it. The contemporary transformations of the aging process as a social event have led to the recognition of diversity, heterogeneity and the ecological dimension of individual and social aging (Yuni & Urbano, 2008).
Aging is usually treated from biased approaches; In women, mainly emphasized menopause and the empty nest, which reduce the processes related to aging to a topic of reproduction, sex and maternity, limiting being a woman to the most deeply patriarchal role assignments, and in the case of the Man, retirement and use of free time are usually considered, which implies an assignment to the public world that reproduces traditional stereotypes (Freixas, 1997).
A woman and a man of the same age (over 70 years old) will probably look different, he will look less than her and that is the product of anatomical, hormonal and of course the different habits between the two sexes. According to studies in Spain, women tend to get sick before men (54 years versus 57 years of them). In this way, they are more likely to begin to suffer "ailments" before men or aesthetically they look more wrinkled, but that does not mean that they will die before (Lizana, 2014).
Critical gerontology and feminist gerontology propose a deep review that allows establishing ties and ruptures between the socio-cultural meanings assigned to old age and aging and the social representations that circulate in the social plot, and to the continuity and survival of certain certain Beliefs, prejudices and social preconcepts in the speeches of science and in the practices of professionals of the Gerontological Field (Yuni & Urbano, 2008).
Methodology
This is an investigation with a quantitative approach with an exploratory-descriptive character, based on non-statistically significant samples. For data collection, the interview technique has been used with a significant degree of directionality in the formulation and order of the questions pre -established in the survey, have been applied to people via online in order to obtain and prepare data from data from rapid and effective mode.
Definition of variables
- Life expectancy: It is the average of the amount of years that a certain absolute or total population lives in a certain period.
- Appearance: set of characteristics or circumstances of a person.
- Achaques: Mild disease or condition that is suffered frequently or regularly, especially as a result of age.
- Aging: phenomenon present throughout the life cycle from the same process of conception to death.
- Aging factors: biological and social circumstance that contribute to deteriorating the life of the subject.
This is a non -probabilistic sampling, made through voluntary selection panels of participants constituted by 14 elderly, with a labor and/or academic link today and with Internet access. The design of the questionnaire seeks to obtain subjective information regarding aging between women and men. This is an online questionnaire, belonging to the Google Drive application, people were surveyed through the shipping of the email questionnaire. The questionnaire has three blocks, these are closed questions, with a single possibility of response established in advance, it is added as a possible option "others" and at the end of the questionnaire a section of "comments" is provided. Information processing is carried out with the Google Form application allows coding and recording data automatically, it also enables validation, checking and its export.
Results
Characteristics of the participants
14 people participated in the survey 64.3 % female and 35.7 % of the male gender, where 57.1 belongs to the age range of 25 to 34 years and 21.4 % corresponds to the age range of 18 to 24 years The same percentage is repeated for the age range of 35 to 44 years.
Regarding the geographical identity of participants, 42.9% is identified as European, the same percentage is repeated for Latin geographical identity and 14.3% is considered with another geographical identity. 42.9% of the people consulted agree with the gender perspective, on 28.6% states not to agree or disagree, 14.3% considered to agree with the gender perspective and the same percentage corresponds to people who disagree with the gender perspective.
Life expectancy
Before the question of who lives more?, 64.3% of the people consulted have stated that women live more than men and 35.7% considered that there are no differences with respect to longevity between women and men, no person I consider as a response of the option of men’s option.
The 64.3% corresponding to the 9 people who have selected that women live more than men, 33.3% have considered that no option presented is a correct cause, 22.2% said that women are exposed to Less risks, 11.1% considered that women suffer less diseases and the same percentage considered the option all are correct, which includes; Male embryos die at a greater pace than female embryos, women are exposed to less risks and women suffer less diseases, 22,% have selected the other option, stating that the reason is due to the fact that men usually suffer More psychosomatic diseases and the other option that has been added was that the woman is more resistant on equal terms than men.
Aging
54.5% of the people consulted considered that women suffer more ailments with the age than men, because they stated in 50% that women suffer more ailments because the detriment in their quality of life occurs at an earlier age , and the other 50% believe that there are other causes for which women suffer more ailments against 45.5% that men suffer more ailments over the years because men suffer more ailments with age with age , because its detriment in the quality of life occurs at an earlier age (60%), and 40%said they did not agree with the options raised by selecting the option of any of the options (20%) and others Options (20%).
When asked if women and men age, 78.6% of the people consulted have selected the option that women and men do not age in the same way, that there are anatomical, hormonal and habits differences and 21,4 % said that if women and men grow up in the same way.
71.4% of the people consulted state that the acceleration of aging depends on genetic and external factors, 14.3% consider that women due to their lifestyle (100%) and the same percentage for men attributing this Situation in 50% to exposure to the sun, lifestyle, hormones and physiognomy and the other 50% consider the influence of hormones and physiognomy.
Three of the people consulted have added the following comments:
- For me there is no one who ages faster if the man or woman depends on the quality of life that each person leads
- In my opinion, women see
- In the question about geographical identity all solutions are in masculine.
The results obtained only represent the people who have participated in the survey for what is not extremely significant to be generalizable results.
Conclusions
Both the bibliography consulted and the people surveyed agree that aging is a process inherent in human life, which constitutes a unique, heterogeneous experience and its meaning varies depending on the connotation that each culture makes of it. It is understood as a multidimensional phenomenon that involves all the dimensions of human life. Greater attention must be paid to gender differences when preparing health policies.
References
- Alvarado García, to. M., & Salazar Maya, to. M. (2014). Analysis of the aging concept. Gerokomos, 57-62.
- Arber, s., & Ginn, J. (nineteen ninety six). Ratio between gender and aging: sociological approach. Madrid: Narcea .
- BBC. (February 5, 2019). Obtained from why women live more than men?: https: // www.BBC.com/world/news-4711744
- Deutsche Welle. (April 4, 2019). WHO: Women’s life expectancy is greater than that of men. Obtained from https: // www.DW.com/es/oms-peanza-de-vida-de-las-mujeres-es-mayor-who-the-of-hombres/a-48206298
- Freixas, a. (1997). Aging and gender: other necessary perspectives. Psychology Yearbook, 31-42.
- Lizana, a. (August 19, 2014). Scientifically proven: women age more than men. Obtained from https: // www.Guioteca.com/woman/proven-scientificly-the-women-invexen-mas-who-the-hombres/
- Major portal. (s.d). The myths and stereotypes associated with old age. 60 and more magazine, 46-51.
- Yuni, j. A., & Urbano, C. A. (2008). Aging and gender: Theoretical perspectives and approaches to female aging. Argentine Journal of Sociology, Vol.6, No. 10, 151-169.
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