– 191 – Zofia Kubi ska Agnieszka ukaszuk El bieta Szczygielska ATTITUDES OF OLDER PEOPLE TOWARDS HEALTH Key words: attitudes towards health, older people, gender Introduction An integrating character of health promotion allows to and obliges to draw from research achievements of various fields, including: health prote- ction as well as social and economic sciences. Over the last decades, a num- ber of authors have been perceiving sociology as the key partner in mode- ling the contemporary identity of health promotion. The concept of the complementarity of sociology in respect of health and health promotion in Poland was presented, among others, by S o ska and Pi tkowski (Pi tkowski 2005, Bara ski 2002). „The developing sociology of health places health, its protection and promotion in the focus of theoretical, research and practical interests. A growing interest in the category of health as a declared and accomplished value has also greatly contributed to its development. In this approach, a sociologist of health may also promote health in the work, school and living environment as well as be a leader of a social movement affirming a health-promoting lifestyle”. (Pi tkowski 2005) An increase in the level of self-consciousness in respect of health is de- termined by age, life experience, tradition, fashion, education and – most of all – by health hetero- and autoeducation. All this creates the health culture of man that may be manifested by health needs and behaviors, and indi- vidual standards of the care over own health. From the viewpoint of socio- logy and sociologists, an accurate diagnosis of the level and character of the health culture may be made based on attitudes expressed towards health. In literature addressing public health, health promotion and sociology, investigations of attitudes towards health are sparse and selective. The most extensive analysis of that issue was provided by Demel, who in his theore-