Perception of “health” concept and environmental sustainability: a gender aspect

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to investigate the perception to human health, its preservation and the general understanding of the phenomena of vitality and health as such in the sustainable society. The article is dedicated to the gender analysis of the perception of the above phenomena. The purpose of the proposed study was to find out associations related to these concepts, to model associative fields by the men’s and women’s reactions, as well as to establish the most valuable features in the perception of this concept by different genders. The study used a free associative experiment in the written form. The respondents were students-leaders and their deputies (42 women and 29 men) aged 17-21. We used the statistical method to calculate the results of the experiment; as well as the comparative method and the method of modeling of associative fields. Comparing the men’s and women’s associative semantics of these phenomena, we conclude that there is a generally positive perception of the concept under study, but men show negative characteristics of this phenomenon slightly more than women.