Study of Lifestyle, the Most Important Challenge and Its Related Factors in Suburban Women

Socioeconomic and environmental factors in suburban neighborhoods can affect the lifestyle of their inhabitants. However, the lifestyle of the suburban people is rarely considered by the researchers. This study aimed to investigate lifestyle, the most important challenge, and its related factors in suburban women of reproductive age living in southeastern Iran.

In this analytic cross-sectional study, the lifestyles of suburban women in the southeast of Iran were investigated in 2017. The sample consisted of 400 people who were selected by random one-stage cluster sampling. Lifestyle questionnaire (LSQ) was completed by individual interviews to collect data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, and multivariate regression. SPSS (version 19) was used to analyze data. A p<0.05 was considered significant.

Mean score of LSQ was 103.08±24.97 and among all components of lifestyle, the sport and health component got the lowest score (21.58±18.68). Among the predictive factors, the education and employment of the husband, the interval between pregnancies, ethnicity and the head of household had a significant relationship with lifestyle (p=0.03, p=0.01, p=0.002, p=0.01, and p=0.01 respectively).

The lifestyles of suburban women were at an inappropriate level and exercise was the main challenge in their lifestyle. It is necessary to pay more attention to the personal and social characteristics of the husband, fertility status, ethnicity, and head of the family and to promote sports in policy-making to improve the lifestyle.