Xinguang Chen1, Maggie Lau2, Ming Yue Kan3, I-Chyun Chiang4, Yih-Jin Hu5, Jie Gong6, Lue Li7, King-Lun Ngok8. 1. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA. 2. City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. 3. Hong Kong Institute of Education, Tai Po, Hong Kong. mingyuekan@gmail.com. 4. Yuanpei University, Hsinchu, Taiwan. 5. National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City, Taiwan. 6. Wuhan Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Wuhan, China. 7. Macao Polytechnic Institute, Macau, China. 8. Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
Abstract
PURPOSE: This study aimed at assessing the differences in prevalence rates of common health behavior among adolescents in the five Chinese cities and the influential factors at the contextual and individual levels. METHOD: We compared the standardized rates of three lifestyle behaviors (sedentary, dietary, and physical activity) and three addictive behaviors (cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and participation in gambling) among a sample of 13,950 adolescents. The sample was randomly selected from five cities, including Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, Zhuhai, and Wuhan. Population size, GDP per capita, and literacy at the city level as well as parental monitoring and school performance at the student's level were assessed. Multi-level mixed effect models were used to examine the interaction of individual level factors with study sites. RESULTS: The six health behaviors differed significantly across sites with the highest rates of alcohol consumption in Hong Kong (39.5 %), of cigarette smoking in Macau (9.8 %), and of gambling in Taipei (37.1 %) and Hong Kong (35.9 %). The city-level measures were associated with only a few behavioral measures. Relative to Hong Kong, parental monitoring had stronger association with the three addictive behaviors in the other sites. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that although the study sites share similar Chinese culture, students in the five cities differed from each other with regard to levels of health behaviors. Relative to the broad socioeconomic development, differences in parental monitoring played a significant role in explaining the observed difference.
PURPOSE: This study aimed at assessing the differences in prevalence rates of common health behavior among adolescents in the five Chinese cities and the influential factors at the contextual and individual levels. METHOD: We compared the standardized rates of three lifestyle behaviors (sedentary, dietary, and physical activity) and three addictive behaviors (cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and participation in gambling) among a sample of 13,950 adolescents. The sample was randomly selected from five cities, including Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, Zhuhai, and Wuhan. Population size, GDP per capita, and literacy at the city level as well as parental monitoring and school performance at the student's level were assessed. Multi-level mixed effect models were used to examine the interaction of individual level factors with study sites. RESULTS: The six health behaviors differed significantly across sites with the highest rates of alcohol consumption in Hong Kong (39.5 %), of cigarette smoking in Macau (9.8 %), and of gambling in Taipei (37.1 %) and Hong Kong (35.9 %). The city-level measures were associated with only a few behavioral measures. Relative to Hong Kong, parental monitoring had stronger association with the three addictive behaviors in the other sites. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that although the study sites share similar Chinese culture, students in the five cities differed from each other with regard to levels of health behaviors. Relative to the broad socioeconomic development, differences in parental monitoring played a significant role in explaining the observed difference.
Authors: Sandhi Maria Barreto; Luana Giatti; Leticia Casado; Lenildo de Moura; Claudio Crespo; Deborah Malta Journal: J Epidemiol Community Health Date: 2011-04-06 Impact factor: 3.710