Abstract

SANTOS, José Victor de Oliveira  and  ARAUJO, Ludgleydson Fernandes de. Male Aging Among Older Gay Men: Their Social Representations. Estud. pesqui. psicol. [online]. 2021, vol.21, n.3, pp. 971-989. ISSN 1808-4281.  http://dx.doi.org/10.12957/epp.2021.62693.

This research aims to identify the social representations of male aging among older gay men. Method: 20 gay elderly men, aged 60 to 75 years, average of 63.25 (SD = 3.58), participated in this study. To grasp the data, a semi-structured interview on male aging was conducted, which was analyzed using the IRAMUTEQ program, which performs the descending hierarchical classification. Results: This analysis divides the participants' social representations into lexical proximity classes, which resulted in four classes: biopsychosocial changes, denial of old age, acceptance of changes and caring for health. Discussion: Participants' social representations display knowledge about the changes that culminate in old age, as well as the negation of these changes. And, still, the concern with sexuality, associating masculinity with erection. In their social representations, they approach solutions to deal with the difficulties that arise in old age, such as self-care. This study is expected to support discussions on the topic in different contexts.

Keywords : aging; gay elderly; social representations.

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