УДК 613.96:316.4(574-25)
Z.E. Battakova, S.B. Mukasheva, T. Slazhneva, S.Z. Abdrakhmanova, A.A. Adayeva
National Centre for Problems of Healthy Lifestyle Development, Almaty c., Kazakhstan
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS AND ADOLESCENT
HEALTH BEHAVIOR: A PILOT STUDY IN KAZAKHSTAN
The relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and adolescent health has been a major source of concern in the field of public health. In this study, the Family Affluence Scale II (FAS II) was used to measure the SES of the participants in order to examine the relationship between the family’s SES and certain indicators of adolescent health and behavior.
Study objective. The objective of the study is to examine relationship between family SES and certain indicators of adolescent health behavior using the FASII scale.
Material and methods. We used data from the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey of children aged 11, 13, and 15 years in Aktobe. The variables used to measure health and health related behavior in the participants included health self-assessment, life satisfaction, multiple health complaints, number of injuries requiring medical attention, everyday breakfast, consumption of fruits, soft drinks on a daily basis, physical activity, frequency of brushing teeth, and smoking tobacco. The affluence of the participants was measured using the FAS II. Correlation and odds ratios (OR) methods were used for data analysis.
Results and discussions. Boys with higher scores on the FAS II were more likely to have higher life satisfaction (OR 0.47, CI 0.25-0.9, p<0.05), to eat fruits on a daily basis (OR 1.69, CI 1.06-2.69, p<0.05), and to have injuries treated by medical staff (OR 2.14, CI 1.36-3.38, p<0.01). Girls with higher scores on the FAS II were more likely to brush their teeth more than once a day (OR 0.44, CI 0.27-0.73, p<0.01).There was no significant relationship between the FAS II scores and the selected indicators of health and behavior.
Conclusions. The result of the study indicates that FASII scores and health indicators in boys and girls were weakly correlated in the pilot sample. Further research is required to understand the relationship between family affluence and health indicators based on national data.
Key words: health inequalities, family affluence scale, health behaviors, adolescents, health behavior in school-aged children (HBSC), socioeconomic status.