Healthy Behaviors with emphasize on Social and Cultural Capitals among the Youth in the City of Shiraz, Iran

Experts on sociology of health believe that a significant part of health is influenced by social and cultural factors. This approach has recently been strengthened with the acceleration of widespread social changes, and social researchers are more engaged in interdisciplinary health studies. Healthy behaviors in the present paper were assessed through indicators such as diet, sport, stress management, and avoiding self-treatment, drug abuse, alcoholism, smoking and unprotected sexual behaviors. 

Methods and Data:

 Data was collected through a sample survey among 1065 adults with the age range of 18-30 in Shiraz. 

39.6% of the respondents showed a low level of health-related behaviors and 28.4% a high score. For social capital variable, the highest frequency was observed at the medium level; and for cultural capital variable, the highest frequency was at the low level. The variables of social capital, cultural capital, class belonging, age and gender in multivariate regression account for 58% of the healthy behavior. 

According to the findings of the present study, it can be concluded that people's health-related behaviors (which can have positive or negative effects on their health) are related to social and cultural components, and among them, two components of social capital and cultural capital are very important. 

Key Message: 

It is necessary to pay attention to its social and cultural dimensions and factors beyond the physiological dimension in the field of health policy and in order to improve and promote a health-oriented lifestyle.