Balard Frédéric, Beluche Isabelle, Romieu Isabelle, Willcox Donald Craig, Robine Jean-Marie
Equipe Démographie et Santé, INSERM, Centre Val d'Aurelle, Parc Euromédecine, U710, 34 298 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
J Aging Res. 2011;2011:371039. doi: 10.4061/2011/371039. Epub 2011 Nov 24.
Since the 1990s, several studies involving French centenarians have shown a gender paradox in old age. Even if women are more numerous in old age and live longer than men, men are in better physical and cognitive health, are higher functioning, and have superior vision. If better health should lead to a longer life, why are men not living longer than women? This paper proposes a hypothesis based on the differences in the generational habitus between men and women who were born at the beginning of the 20th century. The concept of generational habitus combines the generation theory of Mannheim with the habitus concept of Bourdieu based on the observation that there exists a way of being, thinking, and doing for each generation. We hypothesized that this habitus still influences many gender-linked behaviours in old age. Men, as "oaks," seem able to delay the afflictions of old age until a breaking point, while women, as "reeds," seem able to survive despite an accumulation of health deficits.
自20世纪90年代以来，几项针对法国百岁老人的研究显示了老年阶段的性别悖论。即便老年女性数量多于男性且寿命比男性长，但男性在身体和认知健康方面状况更佳，功能更高，视力也更优越。如果更好的健康状况会带来更长的寿命，那为何男性没有比女性活得更长呢？本文基于20世纪初出生的男性和女性在代际惯习上的差异提出了一个假设。代际惯习的概念将曼海姆的代际理论与布迪厄的惯习概念结合起来，这是基于这样的观察：每一代人都有一种存在、思考和行为方式。我们假设这种惯习在老年阶段仍会影响许多与性别相关的行为。男性作为“橡树”，似乎能够将老年疾病延缓至一个临界点，而女性作为“芦苇”，尽管健康赤字不断积累，却似乎能够存活下来。
