Factors affecting health in young and old men and women’s beliefs

The purpose of this article is to compare beliefs concerning factors affecting human health expressed by women and men in two age categories: young (20–37 years) and old (above 63 years). These beliefs constitute one of the aspects of the cognitive component of the attitude towards health. Science provides several models pointing to different types of determinants of the psychophysical condition of individuals. A question arises, what ideas concerning this topic function in popular awareness and does gender and age differentiate these beliefs (and more broadly, the approach towards health). The interest in influence of gender and age on health awareness stems from differences in evaluating the state of one’s own health and health-related behaviour of men and women of different age that were observed in social research (Dzwonkowska-Godula et al. 2012; CBOS 2012a). The basis here is the hypothesis about the influence of cultural definitions of femininity and masculinity (gender), differentiated in relation to people being in different phases of life (gendered age), on attitudes towards health, including health awareness.