Researchers are focusing on a factor that makes aging harder for men: having to let go of their sense of masculinity.

That sense includes things like the need to be strong and stoic, or that it’s weak to ask for help. The trouble is, such ideas are a bad fit with the realities of old age, leaving many senior men poorly equipped to handle the challenges that come with growing frailer, retiring, losing a spouse or even needing to disclose their ailments.

“I hate to say it, but the way the traditional model of masculinity was written was for boys up to the age of adulthood,” says Edward Thompson, 71, professor emeritus of sociology at the College of the Holy Cross and a leading researcher on elderly men and masculinity. “Clear models of dignified masculinity are nonexistent for later life.”

Women, of course, carry the burden of their own cultural issues that can make aging hard, such as society’s emphasis on youthful beauty. But in contrast to men, many of the gender norms for women are sources of strength in later years, experts say, such as greater experience taking care of themselves and others, and the ability to form deep relationships and accept vulnerability as natural.

As doctors and therapists become more aware of the ways that aging challenges masculinity, many are using that knowledge to improve the health of senior men. For example, some will encourage older male patients to pay greater attention to health care as a way to retain or regain strength or be better providers for their families, says Jean Bonhomme, a physician in Atlanta who is on the board of advisers of the nonprofit Men’s Health Network, and founder of the National Black Men’s Health Network. Such strategies are presenting “health care as an ally to make men feel more like a man,” Dr. Bonhomme says.