Tanaka Chika, Naruse Takashi, Taguchi Atsuko, Nagata Satoko, Arimoto Azusa, Ohashi Yuki, Murashima Sachiyo
Department of Community Health Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Jpn J Nurs Sci. 2016 Oct;13(4):451-465. doi: 10.1111/jjns.12126. Epub 2016 May 29.
Recreational walking benefits the health of the middle-aged population. Social norms might generate an intention-behavior gap, the state of people forming adequate intentions but failing to translate these intentions into action. People living in a community where the neighbors conform to the average behaviors of those who live in the neighborhood might restrict behaviors that stray from the neighborhood's social norms. This cross-sectional study was conducted in order to examine whether the degree of conformity to the neighbors modified the association between social norms and recreational walking among middle-aged adults in Japan.
Using a questionnaire, data were collected from 730 participants in Japan. Among those who intended to recreationally walk, a multiple logistic regression was carried out separately for the participants with a high or low degree of conformity to the neighborhood social norms.
Of the total number of respondents, 511 (70%) reported recreational walking intentions. The descriptive norm was significantly associated with recreational walking only among the participants with a high degree of conformity. In contrast, there was no such association among the participants with a low degree of conformity.
The results confirmed that people who live in a community where people tend to conform translated walking intentions into action when they saw their neighbors walk recreationally. Public health nurses should evaluate the degree of conformity in neighborhoods and neighbors' descriptive norms when promoting walking.
休闲散步有益于中年人群的健康。社会规范可能会产生意图-行为差距，即人们虽形成了适当的意图，但却未能将这些意图转化为行动。生活在一个邻居行为符合邻里平均行为模式的社区中的人们，可能会限制偏离邻里社会规范的行为。开展这项横断面研究是为了检验在日本中年成年人中，对邻居行为的符合程度是否会改变社会规范与休闲散步之间的关联。
通过问卷调查，收集了来自日本730名参与者的数据。在那些有休闲散步意图的人群中，分别对邻里社会规范符合程度高或低的参与者进行了多元逻辑回归分析。
在所有受访者中，511人（70%）表示有休闲散步的意图。描述性规范仅在邻里社会规范符合程度高的参与者中与休闲散步显著相关。相比之下，在邻里社会规范符合程度低的参与者中则不存在这种关联。
研究结果证实，生活在一个人们倾向于行为一致的社区中的人，当看到邻居进行休闲散步时，会将散步意图转化为行动。公共卫生护士在推广散步活动时，应评估邻里的行为符合程度以及邻居的描述性规范。
