PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS AND HEALTH-RELATED BEHAVIOR AMONG STUDENTS FROM SOUTH-EAST POLAND

The aim of this study was to determine the meaning of selected social-demographic factors, such as: gender, place of resident, education, level of knowledge about health and life orientation in modifying the behaviours related to health among university students.The study was conducted among 521 students of two major universities of the South-Eastern Region of Poland. The survey was conducted by means of a diagnostic survey with the use of the Inventory of Health-Related Behaviuor (Zygfryd Juczynskiʹs IZZ), A. Antonovskyʹs Sense of Coherence Questionnaire SOC-29 and the original questionnaire, including socio-demographic variable, as well as a test of statements considering the assessment of the level of knowledge about health. Methods of descriptive statistics, such as: mean, standard deviation, median, upper and lower quartile, and highest and lowest value, methods of analysis of variance, the chi-square test, correlation and linear regression and Spearmanʹs rank correlation coefficient, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient, and backward stepwise regression were used for statistical analysis. The study showed that almost a half of respondents (48.9%) were characterized by a low intensity of pro-health behaviour, and among 38.4% it was on an average level. Gender was a factor that differentiated the intensity of health-related behaviour - women indicated a higher level of these behaviours. Almost half of the studied group (48.6%) was characterized by a low level of knowledge about health. The major meaning among studied factors influencing health-related behaviour in the regression model had the level of sense of coherence, gender and material status.