Abstract

Drawing from results of a qualitative study on young asthmatic patients, this article tries to offer an answer to the following question: how does gender issues play a role in managing health care trajectories? The article is based on findings from a sociological study on health and age transitions among young asthmatic patients living in France, with whom we carried out semi-directive interviews and ethnographic observations. After having framed the main question which inspires the article within contemporary debates on sociology of health and gender, the text analyses empirical data to show how young patients deal with asthma in daily social life in order to negotiate autonomy within the management of their disease.