Are Men Aging as Oaks and Women as Reeds? A Behavioral Hypothesis to Explain the Gender Paradox of French Centenarians

Abstract

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.

Centenarians in Europe

“…Yet, in Sardinia, one of the blue zones with an exceptional high centenarian prevalence, the gender ratio in age-validated cases is also balanced [6]. Thus, our findings reinforce the need for more research on gender differences in exceptional longevity which takes into account not only well-established genetic, hormonal and phenotypical differences but complex constellations of socio-psychological variables including education, behaviour, social roles and inequality, as well as patterned social and medical support [14].…”

Demographics, phenotypic health characteristics and genetic analysis of centenarians in China

“…Regarding Chinese centenarians, the large gender differences in health are possibly related to male advantages in socioeconomic status and more outdoor physical activities, such as gardening, farming and fishing, which facilitate maintenance of capacity for daily living and physical performance. Similar gender patterns were also found among French centenarians and explained by social and behavioral differences (Balard et al 2011). Another possible explanation of the large gender difference in health indicators among Chinese centenarians is that the male centenarians are much more stringently selected “longevity-stars” due to higher death rates in males than in females at all younger ages.…”

Cohort analysis of gender gap after one hundred years old: the role of differential migration and survival trajectories

“…Similarly, it has often been underlined that the FR among Italian centenarians shows lower values than those of many other European countries that in the past had received significant migratory flows from Italy both men and women. To stay with the previous example, in France there are around 9 female centenarians for every man for the cohort 1910, while in Italy there are 5 [3,22]. We find the same comparisons within Italy: for example, in Lombardy a region of immigration the FR among centenarians is equal to 8, while in Calabria a region of emigration it is lower than 3 [5].…”

“…The literature dealing with the high gender gap to the detriment of men at extreme ages is considerable. Demographers, epidemiologists, biologists and geneticists have developed several hypotheses to explain the phenomenon [22,[31][32][33][34]. The descriptive studies refer to the different life history of individuals [35,36].…”

“…Generally, for the cohorts considered, we might speak of a generational habitus [22] that could influence the observed gender gap.…”