台灣地區成人的健康行為探討：分佈情形、因素結構和相關因素

The purposes of this study were to: (1) understand the distribution of health behaviors among Taiwanese adults; (2) analyze the factor structure of these behaviors; and (3) find out the factors related to behaviors adverse to health. We studied Taiwan residents aged 18 years and over. Using a multi-stage sampling procedure, 25 regions (village, city, township, and district) were first selected. Three clusters having 15 linked households in each cluster were randomly chosen from each region. The subsects were all the about of each of these house holds. A total of 2565 adults completed a version of ”Taiwanese Adults' Cognitions and Behaviors Related to Chronic Diseases Survey Questionnaire”. Overall, more prevalent behaviors among the subjects were: less intake of unrefined cereal (70.0%), never exercising (41.1%), frequent intake of sweet beverages (31.6%), etc. Using principle component analysis, the health behaviors were categorized into four factors with the names of ”smoking, drinking, and betel-nut chewing”, ”undesired food intake”, ”drinking tea and coffee”, and ”inappropriate lifestyle”. The proportion of the total variances that can be explained by these four factors are 34.3%, 22.1%, 20.0%, and 21.6% respectively. When other behavioral variables were controlled, background factors including gender, age, education, marriage, Place of binth, religion, insurance, perceived health, having chronic disease, and having ralatives with chronic disease all have a different relation to each item of behavior adverse to health. Results of this study suggest that health surveys and health screening should be strengthened. Priorities for selecting behavioral problems and farget groups were also suggested.