Factors behind health behaviours

Behaviours which are generally assumed to be healthy include physical exercise, a moderate intake of alcohol and fat, and dental hygiene, while unhealthy behaviours are, for example, the use of drugs, sweets, alcohol and tobacco, as well as being under lots of psychological stress. British teenagers considered exercise as the main factor good for their health and dieting the main factor which was bad for their health. By dieting they meant socalled “junk food” and sweets especially; smoking was also considered bad. Healthy eating, exercise, and non-smoking were main factors related to health also in other studies conducted in Britain and Finland. Behaviours including tobacco use, a poor diet, physical inactivity and alcohol abuse are actually the biggest cause of death in the USA.
It has been suggested that people’s health behaviour is influenced by both individual attributes and the conditions they live under. Cohen, Scribner and Farley (2000) identified four categories of factors which are assumed to influence health behaviour:

• Availability of products (protective or harmful), referring to accessibility of products associated with health outcomes, such as tobacco or high-fat foods or fruit and vegetables.
• Physical structures which either increase or reduce opportunities for healthy behaviours, such as consumer products, buildings or neighbourhoods. Well-lit streets, for example, reduce opportunities for assault or injury; childproof medicine containers reduce the risk of poisoning for children.
• Social structures and policies: laws or policies which require or prohibit behaviours, such as laws against selling alcohol to underage people.
• Media and cultural messages. Culture and media messages refer to messages that people see or hear often, and which can either increase or decrease consumption − for example, of tobacco, alcohol or high-fat food.

These factors can all complement each other. The accessibility of harmful products can be reduced through social structures and the media can enhance the other structural factors when messages reinforce behaviours which are promoted by the other structural interventions (Cohen, Scribner & Farley 2000).