[Internalized norms and social norms relating to negative health behaviors. The relationship of sociodemographic characteristics and reference groups].
So-called "negative health behaviors" (e.g. smoking, excessive eating/drinking), which are related to morbidity and mortality, are generally well known to the public. However there are many who undertake negative health behaviors despite knowing of their negative health effects. Using a mail survey of subjects aged 25 to 54, we examined reasons and justifications for engaging in negative health behaviors and their related factors from the lay person's perspective. Concerning the reasons for negative health behaviors, we hypothesized seven concepts (work priority, group harmony priority, the contribution to relaxation, tools for communication, prior orientation focused on the present, individualistic priority, and appearance), and devised multiple questions for each concept. The results are as follows. 1. Compared to females, males tended to support of the five concepts about the internalized norms concerned with negative health behaviors (e.g. the tendency of each individual to approve or disapprove of the reasons for negative health behaviors). In females, the younger generation and those that were married expressed more support than the older and the unmarried. There were differences in males according to occupation. 2. Concerning which reference groups had the largest influence on the social norms concerned with negative health behaviors (e.g. the perceptions as to what degree a group regards the reasons about negative health behaviors as desirable), most perceived that the "office" and "friends" groups would be more supportive of reasons for negative health behaviors than the "family" groups. 3. The health behaviors, which correlated with the internalized norms or the social norms concerned with negative health behaviors, were eating breakfast, smoking, and drinking (frequency and amount). In particular, drinking behavior was influenced most by the internalized norms and the social norms.
Yoshii
K
K
Department of Health Sociology, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo.
Tamura
M
M
Takayama
T
T
Onishi
M
M
Kitajima
Y
Y
Shirato
M
M
Fukada
J
J
Fujimaki
A
A
Yamada
M
M
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012925:Social Conformity