SOCIO-REGIONAL CONTEXT AS A DETERMINANT OF ADOLESCENTS HEALTH BEHAVIOR IN FINLAND

Until recently, the role of socio-regional context as a determinant of adolescents' health behaviour has been largely neglected in health st udies. Usually the focus is on characteristics of individuals, while t he potentially equally strong effect of the context is left unanalysed . Using multi-level data we studied whether socio-regional context inf luences health behaviour and whether it modifies differences by socio- economic background of adolescents. The individual level data derive f rom the (Finnish) Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey. In the surve y, nationally representative data of 16- and Ib-year old Finns were co llected in 1991 and 1993 by mailed questionnaires (total n = 9121, res ponse rate = 76%). These data were linked with a database that include d socio economic characteristics of municipalities. Three dimensions o f the socio-regional context were measured: level of services, occupat ional structure and self-sufficiency of employment. In a series of log istic regression models, factors related to daily smoking, weekly alco hol use, use of high milk far products and frequent physical activity were analysed. Socio-economic background of the adolescent was a stron g determinant of all four health behaviours. Drinking and use of high milk fat products were, however, also related to the socio-regional co ntext. The relationship between socio-regional context and these behav iours was dissimilar, so that the dimensions of the socio-regional con text that were related to the behaviours were different among boys tha n among girls. Our study shows that socio-regional context associates with adolescents' alcohol use and use of high milk fat products, while the more detailed nature of this relationship remains unclear. Copyri ght (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd