Conference abstract
Health behavior disparities: a universal trend or a peculiarity for the developed countries?
Tatiana Andreeva
BACKGROUND. It is generally recognized that those poorer and less educated are more likely to have unhealthy behaviors. These disparities by socio-economic status (SES) are observed with regards to different behaviors known to influence health outcomes in terms of diseases and deaths. However, this consistent pattern was found in population-wide studies in developed countries, while in certain demographic groups it was not seen. So the objective was to check if the SES-behavior association pattern was present in available data collected in Ukraine.
METHODS. For current study, all available datasets were considered if they included data on SES, education, and gender. Outcomes were measurements of health behaviors including use of psychoactive substances, food consumption, and physical activity.
RESULTS. Prevalence of many health behaviors differs in men and women in Ukraine. More men than women use legal and illegal drugs.
With regard to education and SES, Ukrainian data reveals either absence of association found in developed countries or its inverted pattern: till recently, women with university education were more likely to smoke than those less educated; teenagers from more affluent families use alcohol more likely than those from poorer ones.
CONCLUSION. Inconsistency of SES-behavior association patterns in Ukraine with those seen in the West may be due to a different perception of health behaviors in people who grew up in the former Soviet Union. Behaviors pertinent to men were considered rather masculine and risky than those health-related. We theorize that the revealed absence of SES-behavior association may be because the behaviors are not perceived as those related to health which is an important resource for life. If a behavior is not known as a ‘health behavior’, the society is less likely to stratify with regard to its practicing. So, if the hypothesis is correct, there may be more disparities in younger cohorts than in older ones, which should be checked further.
Abstract (pdf) in English
