Social representations and bodily practices of rejuvenation for middle-aged women/ Representacoes sociais e praticas corporais de rejuvenescimento para mulheres de meia-idade

Using the theoretical framework of social representations (SR), this research aimed at analysing the relationship between the SR of rejuvenation and their associated body practices of rejuvenation among middle-aged women, emphasizing attitudes, beliefs and norms as elements of negotiation between the two constructs. A survey was conducted with 100 middle-aged women (M=49 years and 8 months; SD=6 years and 9 months) and it used a structured questionnaire. It was considered 8 rejuvenation body practices, divided into two modalities: noninvasive practices (feeding practices, physical exercises, cosmetics/ anti-aging creams and dyeing of white hair) and minimally invasive and invasive practices (botox, chemical peels, dermal filling and plastic surgery). Descriptive-relational analyzes were performed with the support of the software SPSS. The results suggest wide acceptation of rejuvenation body practices, in special the non-invasive ones when compared with invasive and minimally invasive practices. The rejuvenation as an object of health and subjective well-being was a representation shared by all women, however, as an object of beauty, positive beliefs were observed among women with attitudes more favorable to body rejuvenation practices and negative among those unfavorable to these practices. The attitudes, beliefs and norms regarding rejuvenation practices were related to the greater intentionality of adopting these practices, as well as the concrete adoption. The results suggest that there is a relationship between RS of rejuvenation and body practices regarding this object, although further studies are needed to address this relationship in detail. Keywords: social representations; rejuvenation; body practices. Utilizando-se do aporte teorico das representacoes sociais, este estudo teve como objetivo analisar a relacao entre as representacoes sociais (RS) do rejuvenescimento com praticas corporais relativas a este objeto em mulheres de meia idade, enfatizando atitudes, crencas e normas como elementos de mediacao entre os dois construtos. Um levantamento de dados foi realizado com 100 mulheres de meia-idade (M=49 anos e 8 meses; DP=6 anos e 9 meses) e o instrumento utilizado consistiu em um questionario estruturado. Foram consideradas 8 praticas corporais de rejuvenescimento, divididas em duas modalidades: praticas nao invasivas (praticas alimentares, exercicios fisicos, cosmeticos/cremes anti-idade e tinturas para cabelo) e praticas minimamente invasivas