Rakowski W, Lefebvre R C, Assaf A R, Lasater T M, Carleton R A
Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912.
Public Health Rep. 1990 Sep-Oct;105(5):481-91.
Independently done surveys of a target population can make an important contribution to knowledge about the determinants of personal health behavior by highlighting variables that consistently emerge as significant predictors. This investigation examined the correlates of four health practice and knowledge indices related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) in two baseline community surveys of the Pawtucket Heart Health Program (N = 2,413; N = 2,808). An additional dimension was the use of three adult age groups (18-29, 30-49, 50-64) in conducting the analyses. Results of both surveys showed that sex was the strongest correlate of the four indices--knowledge of CVD, encouraging health practice changes in others, dietary intake, and exercise. The four indices related to CVD were also associated with years of education, primary language, and whether or not a recent cholesterol measurement had been obtained, although these relationships were not as consistent as the results for sex. Overall, about half of each survey's significant associations were also found in the other survey (survey 1, 30 of 62; survey 2, 30 of 56). Consistency of significant results between surveys was best for the group ages 30-49. In either survey, it was rare for an association between a predictor and behavioral index to appear in each of the three age groups. This study supports the importance of the subjects' sex in research on personal health practices, suggests the potential for independence even among health-related indices pertinent to a single type of illness, and emphasizes the usefulness of utilizing independent samples to identify important correlates of health behavior.
对目标人群进行独立调查，通过突出那些始终作为重要预测因素出现的变量，可为了解个人健康行为的决定因素做出重要贡献。这项调查在波塔基特心脏健康项目的两项基线社区调查中（N = 2413；N = 2808），研究了与心血管疾病（CVD）相关的四种健康实践和知识指标的相关因素。另一个维度是在进行分析时使用了三个成年人年龄组（18 - 29岁、30 - 49岁、50 - 64岁）。两项调查的结果均显示，性别是这四个指标——心血管疾病知识、鼓励他人改变健康行为、饮食摄入和运动——的最强相关因素。与心血管疾病相关的这四个指标还与受教育年限、主要语言以及是否最近进行过胆固醇测量有关，尽管这些关系不如性别结果那样一致。总体而言，每次调查中约一半的显著关联在另一项调查中也能发现（调查1，62项中有30项；调查2，56项中有30项）。调查之间显著结果的一致性在30 - 49岁年龄组中表现最佳。在任何一项调查中，预测因素与行为指标之间的关联在三个年龄组中均出现的情况都很少见。本研究支持了受试者性别在个人健康实践研究中的重要性，表明即使在与单一类型疾病相关的健康相关指标之间也存在独立性的可能性，并强调了利用独立样本识别健康行为重要相关因素的有用性。
