Steptoe A, Wardle J
Department of Psychology, St George's Hospital Medical School, London, UK.
Br J Clin Psychol. 1992 Nov;31(4):485-502. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1992.tb01021.x.
Four important health behaviours--dietary fat avoidance, regular exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption--were assessed by questionnaire, together with measures of risk awareness and beliefs about the importance of each behaviour for health, in comparable samples of young adults from eight countries: Belgium, England, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Spain. Results from 3223 men and 3930 women were analysed. Substantial differences in the prevalence of behaviours were identified, but no country consistently showed the most or least healthy profile across behaviours. Women tended to smoke and drink less than men and attempted to avoid dietary fat to a greater extent, while men exercised more than women. Ratings of the importance of behaviours for health were high, while risk awareness showed wide variations, with lower scores from samples in southern and eastern Europe. Across countries, few associations were observed between the prevalence of behaviour and either mean belief ratings or risk awareness. However, in comparisons of people who did and did not perform each behaviour, beliefs were consistently associated with practice. In multiple regression, beliefs about the importance of the behaviour for health independently accounted for 11.3 per cent of the variance in exercise, 18.9 per cent of the variance in smoking and 4.5 per cent of the variance in alcohol consumption. The association between beliefs and dietary fat avoidance was also substantial. In contrast, the relationships between risk awareness and behaviour were mixed. People who avoided dietary fat were more aware than others of the health risks of fat. But non-smokers were less aware than smokers of the risks of smoking, and people who drank regularly were more aware of the dangers of alcohol than were non-drinkers. The results are discussed in the context of the contribution of health psychology to European health promotion.
通过问卷调查评估了四种重要的健康行为——避免膳食脂肪、定期锻炼、吸烟和饮酒，同时还测量了风险意识以及对每种行为对健康重要性的看法，调查对象是来自比利时、英格兰、德国、匈牙利、爱尔兰、波兰、葡萄牙和西班牙这八个国家的可比年轻成年人样本。对3223名男性和3930名女性的结果进行了分析。研究发现这些行为的流行率存在显著差异，但没有一个国家在所有行为方面始终呈现出最健康或最不健康的状况。女性吸烟和饮酒的频率往往低于男性，并且在更大程度上试图避免膳食脂肪，而男性锻炼比女性更多。对行为对健康重要性的评分较高，而风险意识则差异很大，东欧和南欧样本的得分较低。在各个国家中，行为流行率与平均信念评分或风险意识之间几乎没有关联。然而，在对进行和未进行每种行为的人群进行比较时，信念始终与行为实践相关。在多元回归分析中，对行为对健康重要性的信念独立解释了锻炼差异的11.3%、吸烟差异的18.9%和饮酒差异的4.5%。信念与避免膳食脂肪之间的关联也很显著。相比之下，风险意识与行为之间的关系则较为复杂。避免膳食脂肪的人比其他人更了解脂肪对健康的风险。但不吸烟者比吸烟者对吸烟风险的认识更低，而经常饮酒的人比不饮酒者更了解酒精的危害。本文在健康心理学对欧洲健康促进的贡献背景下对研究结果进行了讨论。
