Behavioral Patterns
MARTIN SIEPMANN
Forschungsverbund Public Health Sachsen-
Sachsen Anhalt e.V., Medizinische Fakultät,
Technische Universität, Dresden, Germany
martin.siepmann@tu-dresden.de
Definition
Behavioral patterns such as tobacco smoking, excess
alcohol consumption, substance dependence, inappropriate
nutrition, lack of physical activity, failure
to use safety equipment including automobile seat belts,
certain sexual practices, and failure to follow preventive
guidelines and disease screening are all associated
with elevated risk of disease or death. Causal conclusions
have been strengthened, dose/response relationships
have been clarified, the influence of many of these
behaviors on overall public health has been quantified,
and scientific guidelines have been formulated.
Basic Characteristics
Risk behaviors rarely occur in isolation, but cluster in
patterns that in combination influence a person’s risk of
disease. Thus, a sedentary life-style in industrial societies
connotes a pattern of mutually influencing behaviors
such as taking little exercise, eating foods of poor
nutritional value, consuming caloric drinks and possibly
also smoking cigarettes. While these factors do
not determine disease in an inevitable sense, they place
the person at elevated risk of obesity, high blood
pressure, and subsequently of cardiovascular disease as
well as impairment of musculoskeletal health. Other
unhealthful behavioral patterns include the connections
among smoking behavior,malnutrition, and drug taking,
and those among alcoholism, aggression, violence
and suicide. Each of these patterns is reinforced
by membership in a social milieu that brings similar
people together, as well as by individual personal traits.
Each pattern also trends to correspond to personal values
and beliefs, which form the connection between
behavior and culture.
Two general explanations have been suggested for
unhealthy behavior. The first theorizes that some people
are unaware about the harmful effects of substance
abuse, smoking and obesity. An alternative explanation
emphasizes that people engaging in unhealthy behaviors
do not correctly weigh the health/lifestyle pros and
contras regarding these behaviors (Wagner et al. 2005).
It seems doubtful that the first explanation is reasonable.
For example, virtually all women and most
men recognize that lowering weight is desirable from
a health perspective. While it is clear that obese people
often differ in their energy metabolism from thin
people, it is also obvious that some of the obesity in
the developed countries results from eating foods considerably
in excess of the amount that is known to be
healthy. The attempt to control food intake by dieting is
nearly universal at some point in the lifetime of women
in the US and Northern Europe. Studies of incoming
college freshmen women demonstrate that only 8–13%
of women do not adhere to a diet (Krahn et al. 1992).
With the median age of onset of dieting close to age 12,
it is unlikely that the message is not getting to young
women or is reaching them too late (Drewnowski and
Hann 1999). Whether food preferences reflect dietary
habits is an interesting issue. Data from epidemiological
studies suggest that food consumption patterns show
parallel influences of age, sex, health status, education,
and income (Harnack et al. 1997). Generally, age influences
both food preferences and food intake patterns in
the direction of more healthful diets (Block and Subar
1992).
In the area of substance abuse, there is even more
convincing data, documenting that knowledge is not
the key problem. Studies of several school-based substance
abuse prevention ( prevention and health promotion)
programs found that these programs definitely
increased student’s knowledge regarding the health
risk of these substances but, unfortunately had no effect
or even increased the rate of substance abuse (Hansen
1992). Therefore, it appears unlikely that a simple lack
of knowledge is what prevents people from avoiding
harmful behavior.
Another area of research has examined the tendency to
novelty seeking. For example, many adolescents begin
smoking as novel behavior that seems to offer relief
from thinking they are not as “with it” (Pomerleau et al.
1992). People who evidence early alcoholism are significantly
higher on the dimension of novelty than are
other individuals (Cloninger 1987). At the other end
of the spectrum are those who are focused on avoiding
harm (Harkness et al. 1995). Those high in novelty
seeking and low in harm avoidance are thought to
be most impulsive. People who are highly impulsive
tend to be vulnerable to the short-term rewards offered
by many high-risk behaviors (Newman and Wallace
1993). In a laboratory reward versus risk situation,
highly impulsive people behave more quickly and give
themselves less time to consider options. Behavioral
intervention programs aim at introducing some delay
in decision-making, so that the participants have some
time to reflect on short-term benefits versus long-termharm.
Cross-References
Alcoholism
Disease Screening Practices
Musculoskeletal Health
Obesity
Physical Activity
Prevention and Health Promotion
Sexual Practices
Smoking Behavior
Substance Dependence
Suicide
References
Block G, Subar AF (1992) Estimates of nutrient intake from
a food frequency questionnaire: the 1987 National Health
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Cloninger CR (1987) Neurogenetic adaptive mechanisms in alcoholism.
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Drewnowski A, Hann C (1999) Food preferences and reported
frequencies of food consumption as predictors of current diet
in healthy women. Am J Clin Nutr 70:28–36
Hansen WB (1992) School-based substance abuse prevention:
a review of the state of the art in curriculum, 1980–1990.
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Harkness AR, Tellegen A, Waller N (1995) Differential converge
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Academic Press, New York, NY, pp 293–349
Pomerleau CS, Pomerleau OF, Flessland KA, Basson SM
(1992) Relationship of tridimensional personality questionnaire
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J Subst Abus 4:143–154
Wagner N, Meusel D, Kirch W (2005) Nutrition education for
Tags: alcohol consumption, automobile seat, behavioral patterns, disease screening, dresden germany, high blood pressure, inevitable sense, martin siepmann, personal traits, preventive guidelines, risk behaviors, risk of obesity, seat belts, sedentary life style, smoking cigarettes, social milieu, substance dependence, technische universität dresden, tobacco smoking, unhealthy behavior
