Age, Education, and Stress Affect Ageing Males’ Symptoms More than Lifestyle Does: The Wroclaw Male Study

Monika Lopuszanska-Dawid, Halina Kołodziej, Anna Lipowicz and Alicja Szklarska
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Monika Lopuszanska-Dawid: Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Physical Education, Józef Piłsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Marymoncka 34, 00-968 Warsaw, Poland
Halina Kołodziej: Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology and Animal Science, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, C. K. Norwida 25, 50-375 Wroclaw, Poland
Anna Lipowicz: Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Biology and Animal Science, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, C. K. Norwida 25, 50-375 Wroclaw, Poland
Alicja Szklarska: Polish Academy of Sciences, Palace of Culture and Science, Defilad Square 1, 00-901 Warsaw, Poland

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-16

Abstract: An increasing number of subjects are affected by health problems related to the advanced involutional processes. It is extremely important to identify the determinants of the rate of occurrence of physiological, psychological, and social manifestations of aging. The aim was to determine how factors such as lifestyle, level of education, or severity of stressful life events indicate the appearance of aging symptoms in adult men. The material consisted of data of ethnically homogeneous group of 355 men (32–87 years), invited to the study as a part of the Wroclaw Male Study research project. The analyzed features included (1) socioeconomic status: age, educational level, marital status, and having children; (2) elements of lifestyle: alcohol drinking, cigarette smoking, and physical activity; (3) major and most important stressful life events—the Social Readjustment Rating Scale; (4) symptoms related to male aging—the Aging Males’ Symptoms. The backward stepwise regression models, the Kruskal–Wallis test, and multiple comparisons of mean ranks were used. Noncentrality parameter δ (delta), two-tailed critical values of the test, and test power with α = 0.05 were calculated. Among the analyzed variables, age was most strongly associated with the intensity of almost all groups of andropausal symptoms in men ( p = 0.0001), followed by the level of education ( p = 0.0001) and the intensity of stressful life events ( p = 0.0108). Selected lifestyle elements turned out to be much less important ( p > 0.01). Preventive actions aimed at slowing down the intensification of involutional processes, including teaching strategies for coping with stressful life events, should be implemented in groups of men with specific risk factors from an early age.

Keywords: men; physical activity; smoking; alcohol; hypogonadism; Poland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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