ABSTRACT

The significance of behavior and life style for health is now widely acknowledged. The paper resent first the concept of life style and its relevance for the major consense of morbidity and mortality, such as cancer and coronary heart disease. The aim of this research was to asses a wide range of health related behaviors, beliefs concerning the importance of behavior for health and health knowledge using the European Health and Behavior Survey (Wardle and Steptoe. 1991). Data were collected from 394 subjects (185 male and 209 female) university students aged 19-27. The results shown that a substantial percentage of the sample practices a negative pattern of health behaviors (e.g. 43% smoke, 56% do not use sun protection of skin. 65% never use seat belt, 95% of women never had a cervical smear). Sex differences, were observed in a number of behaviors, including smoking, alcohol consumption, eating habits and physical exercise. Beliefs about the importance of behaviors for health were associated with the occurrence of behaviors. Important gaps in health knowledge were identified. These results point to an urgent need for widespread education on preventive health practices.

KEYWORDS: lifestyle, health behavior, health beliefs, medical knowledge.