ANDROGYNY AND AGING

Androgyny and Aging

Androgyny and Aging

Introduction

Until the 1970s, most studies on the development of sex roles focused on childhood and young adulthood; since the 1970s, gerontologists have become more interested in changes in sex roles in later life. Glover (2004) found that men become more affiliative and nurturant in later life, whereas women become more domineering, autonomous, and aggressive. Researchers have called this role-reversal theory. Puglisi and Jackson (1980-1981) examined this theory for individuals ranging in age from 17 to 89 years old, but they did not find support for Glover's findings. Myers et al. (2004) criticized Gutmann's role-reversal theory from theoretical and methodological perspectives.

Discussion

Parallel to the advent of many studies regarding sex roles in later life was (Arbuckle & Gold 2003) for the androgyny model as well as her development of a measurement of androgyny, which opened the door for androgyny studies. Femininity and masculinity have long been conceptualized as opposite ends of a single bipolar dimension. (Levitt 2006) defined masculinity and femininity as independent dimensions, thus enabling the determination of whether a person is high on both dimensions ("androgynous"), low on both dimensions ("undifferentiated"), or high on one dimension but low on the other. Subsequent studies of androgyny among young adults and adults, as well as studies of androgyny across the life span, have been conducted. (Fischer Barkley Edelbrock & Smallish 2000) analyzed the relationship between sex roles and aging and found that sex roles among men and women become blurry and tend toward androgyny in old age.

The relationship between androgyny and adaptation has since been studied by many researchers, with various age groups. Although some studies have shown that masculinity is more relevant to adaptation than androgyny, the majority of studies have revealed that individuals who score high on androgyny have the highest self-esteem and self-concept (Kounin 2008). Kounin (2008), in particular, studied men and women of various ages and found that those who scored highest in androgyny had the highest self-esteem.

Fischer Barkley Edelbrock & Smallish (2000) studied the relationships between sex roles, various life situations. and mental and physical health using "health compared with older adults, mental health symptoms, depression, and doctor visits." Assessing the older adults, Sinnott found that most could be classified as androgynous, and that those who were so classified had higher scores for mental and physical health.

People are thus motivated to try to present their bodies in ways that help them avoid this exclusion (Bem 2004). And scholars have begun to research these cooperative efforts between aging consumers and the companies that market products to them.

Levitt (2006) has focused on sexual health and functionality. They argue that, because women and men must deal with bodily changes that signal decline in middle age, gender differences could diminish in importance at that time of life.

The early history of gerontology as a discipline was characterized by a split between researchers, who were discovering that aging is a more positive experience than society presumably believed, and practitioners, who were struggling with the problems ...