title: Health-related behaviour in a small Scottish community.
abstract: A survey of health-related behaviours was carried out in a small Scottish town. A random sample stratified by age and sex was drawn from the records of the sole local health centre. A previously validated questionnaire was sent by post with a covering letter from the general practitioners and a reply paid envelope. An overall response rate of 71.3% was achieved. The results indicated very high rates of smoking for women with manual jobs, but differences between men in manual & non manual groups were not significant. Younger women reported higher alcohol consumption than older women, but there were no significant differences between occupational groups or employed and unemployed men. Only a minority of respondents reported regular consumption of high fibre products, low fat milk and polyunsaturated margarine and few claimed to undertake vigorous exercise. In general health-related behaviours showed little association with self-rated health. Whilst the data confirm the importance of socio-demographic factors in certain behaviours they also indicate that these are inadequate to predict the pattern of such behaviours within a community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Edinburgh University, Medical School, Scotland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amos
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Currie
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Martin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D004034:Diet Surveys; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011897:Random Allocation; D012606:Scotland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires