Suchergebnisse

Sociological theory and research point to the importance of social relationships in affecting health behavior. This work tends to focus on specific stages of the life course, with a division between research on childhood/adolescent and adult populations. Yet recent advances demonstrate that early life course experiences shape health outcomes well into adulthood. We synthesize disparate bodies of research on social ties and health behavior throughout the life course, with attention to explaining how various social ties influence health behaviors at different life stages and how these processes accumulate and reverberate throughout the life course.

Purpose. This study investigates the relationship between patterns of health behaviors and the use of cancer-screening tests while controlling for sociodemographic and health system factors. Design. Cross-sectional analysis of the 2000 National Health Interview (NHIS). Setting. Nationally representative sample. Subjects. Adults 50 years and older. Measures. Use of cancer-screening tests, health behaviors, sociodemographic factors, and health system factors from self-reported responses from the NHIS. Sixteen health behavior patterns were identified based on lifestyle recommendations for physical activity, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and fruit and vegetable consumption. Results. Health behavior patterns, age, educational attainment, usual source of care, and health insurance were significantly associated with the use of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening (p < .05). Approximate B2 for the four models ranged from .067 for colorectal cancer screening in women to .122 for cervical cancer screening. Having a usual source of care was the strongest correlate of screening; the magnitude of associations for health behavior patterns and demographic variables and screening was similar and much smaller than those for usual source of care. Conclusion. These findings demonstrate relationships between patterns of multiple health behaviors and use of recommended cancer-screening tests, even when accounting for factors known to influence test use. This suggests potential for addressing cancer screening in the context of multiple behavior change interventions once barriers to health care access are removed.

'Schichtspezifische Unterschiede gesundheitsbezogener Einstellungen und Verhaltensweisen werden häufig als Ergebnis sozialisatorischer und soziokultureller Einflüsse interpretiert. In der vorliegenden Untersuchung wird die Hypothese überprüft, daß sich derartige Unterschiede zum Teil durch gesundheitsrelevante Merkmale schichtspezifischer Lebenslagen erklären lassen. Auf der Grundlage einer 1990 in Bielefeld durchgeführten postalischen Befragung werden Zusammenhänge zwischen Indikatoren sozialer Schichtzugehörigkeit, der Wahrnehmung unweltbedingter Risikofaktoren, gesundheitsbezogenen Kontrollüberzeugungen und primärpräventiven Verhaltensweisen untersucht. Die Analyseergebnisse lassen erkennen, daß die Belastungen durch umweltbedingte Risikofaktoren in deutlichem Zusammenhang mit den Wohnbedingungen und dem Berufsstatus stehen. Die Ergebnisse verschiedener Pfadanalysen zeigen, daß Befragte ihre Möglichkeiten zur Kontrolle gesundheitlicher Risiken desto geringer einschätzen, je stärker sie sich umweltbedingten Risikofaktoren im Berufsleben und im Wohnbereich ausgesetzt sehen. Gleichzeitig wirkt sich die Wahrnehmung umweltbedingter Risikofaktoren negativ auf die Bereitschaft zur Ausübung sportlicher Aktivitäten aus. Die Bereitschaft zu einer gesundheitsbewußten Ernährung wird dagegen deutlich von den gesundheitsbezogenen Kontrollüberzeugungen beeinflußt. Befragte mit einer eher internen gesundheitsbezogenen Kontrollüberzeugung ernähren sich gesünder als Befragte mit einer eher externen Kontrollüberzeugung.' (Autorenreferat)

This study examined the relation between health behavior and risk perceptions in the context of an acute livestock epidemic. Participants in a longitudinal web‐based survey (N= 195) were asked to report their meat consumption and their perceived risk in relation to bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and other related livestock diseases. Cross‐sectional analyses at both measurement points (T1 and T2) showed that participants with low levels of preventive nutrition (high meat consumption) felt more at risk for BSE‐related diseases than those reporting comparable higher levels of preventive behavior (low meat consumption), indicating relative accuracy. These results suggest that people recognize when their behavior is risky. More importantly, perceived risk also showed adaptive accuracy from a change perspective: increases in preventive nutrition from T1 to T2 were significantly associated with decreases in perceived risk between T1 and T2. Possible foundations and implications of an adaptive accuracy of risk perceptions are discussed.

The most common causes of morbidity and mortality in the western world can be accounted for by unhealthy patterns of behavior (e.g. smoking, sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diet, and alcohol consumption). Interventions to improve health behavior are sorely needed. To fully realize the potential of health behavior change interventions, be they individual level, community level, social structural, or policy-based, a greater understanding of the extent to which genomics can inform efforts at health behavior change is warranted. In this commentary, we explore three relatively novel possible routes to the integration of genomics and health behavior: (1) genomics may influence health behavior indirectly through intermediate phenotypes, requiring well-defined theory-based and mechanistic models of health behavior, (2) genomics may moderate response to interventions to change health behavior, and (3) genomics, specifically epigenetic variation, may be influenced by health behavior. The integration of genomics into research on interventions to change health behavior is not without challenges and will certainly require transdisciplinary collaborative science to succeed. We provide specific action points for moving the science forward to explore the extent to which genomic information can be harnessed to ultimately decrease morbidity and mortality associated with unhealthy behavior.

Volume 3 relates the demography of health behavior to developmental and diversity issues. Unique discussions of the health behaviors of gay males, lesbians, persons with HIV, and caregivers themselves are included. Each volume features extensive supplementary and integrative matrial prepared by the editor, the detailed index to the entire four-volume set, and a glossary of health behavior terminology