The health behaviour of people in late adulthood -sociodemographic correlations and differences between social environments.

Purpose: The increasing number of elderly people living in society draws attention to the problem of health promotion and health education. The present-day problem is prevention in late adulthood and - as a consequence - keeping healthy. In this study the relationships between the individual categories of the health behaviour of the aged and those social-demographic variables which characterize this research group were analysed. The following were taken into consideration: age, sex, education of the test subjects, and whether or not the test subjects belong to a University of the Third Age (UTW) circle, or whether or not the test subjects belong to a social welfare centre circle (DPS).

Material and methods: A total of 199 persons, over 60 years old, living in Bydgoszcz and Torun were tested. The questionnaire method was used in the study. The questionnaire used was the Health Behaviour Inventory by Z. Juczyński. Spearman's non-parametric test and the Mann-Whitney U Test were used for statistical analysis.

Results: Among the four categories of health behaviour and its general intensity only the positive psychological attitude score has a relationship that is of statistical significance to belonging to a DPS or UTW group. Education was seen to be the variable that most often correlates with health behaviour (the behaviour's general indicator and positive psychological attitude). The higher the level of education, the greater the intensity of this behaviour. The sex variable is of marginal significance. The p-value is less than 0.05 (p < 0.05) only for eating habits. Age differentiates the scores pertaining to sleeping and recreational habits, along with physical activity. The younger group scored lower, on average.

Conclusions: Health behaviour during the period of late adulthood is influenced by both belonging to DPS or UTW groups and sociodemographic characteristics. There was no evidence of a dominating variable which significantly differentiates the individual health behaviour categories. Programmes promoting healthy lifestyle should be addressed to a wide group of recipients. Variables such as age, sex and level of education are not as significant for health behaviours as predicted. That is the reason to refer to other sociodemographic parameters.