THE STUDENTS AND THE STATUS OF HEALTH: FROM SOCIAL REPRESENTATION TO CONSUMER PRACTICES. SOME RESULTS OF A SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH AT “ALEXANDRU IOAN CUZA” UNIVERSITY OF IASI
Keywords:
Subjective evaluation of health, Consumer practices, Preventive health care, And positive health practicesAbstract
The interest in the sociology of health is relatively new in our country. With a few exceptions, the scientific publications in this area have been related to demography studies, medical sociology and medical ethics. The people’s health condition is an important indicator of the social and economic situation worldwide (Alexandrescu , Istrate, 2012). Unfortunately some diseases tend to appear at early ages, triggered by the modern lifestyle and new consumption practices. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the health condition in the course of a lifetime. For many Romanian university students, we do not expect the (auto) evaluation of health to be a current practice, considering the generally positive subjective appreciation of the health condition and the low rate of diseases and mortality. However, the young people’s lifestyle and consumer practices are very important indicators of their health condition. During our research we have applied a questionnaire to a representative sample of students from “Al. I. Cuza” University of Iasi, with a primarily descriptive function, considering the exploratory nature of our study. We have tried to explain some specific differences according to gender, forms of studies and positive health practices among university students.References
Daedalus Consulting (2007). Sistemul de sănătate în România; Atitudini şi obiceiuri legate de sănătate, on the site http://www.daedalusmb.ro/ro/index.php?P=404.
European Commission, Public Health, available on the website: http://ec.europa.eu/health.
Eurofound (2012). Third European Quality of Life Survey - Quality of life in Europe: Impacts of the crisis, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
Institutul National de Sănătate Publică. (2011). Raportul stării de sănătate România 2010. Institutul National de Statistică and IRECSON (2000; 2008). Starea de sănătate a populaţiei din România.
IRES (2013). Food safety and habits of consumption in Romania, social research on site www.ires.ro, accesed on 12. 03.2014.
Alexandrescu A., Istrate G-M. (2012). Starea de sănătate a populaţiei şi evoluţia mortalităţii. Rotariu T, Voineagu V. (Eds.) Inerţie şi schimbare, Ed. Polirom, Iaşi, pp. 95-123.
Baumann M., Rapport sur la santé des étudiants en Europe, on the site : http://www.vetos-entraide.com.
Ben Lakhdar C., Cauchie G., Vaillant N.G., Wolff F.C. (2012). The role of family incomes in cigarette smoking: evidence from French students. Social Science & Medicine, 74 (12) pp. 1864-1873.
Cockerman, W. (2005). Health lifestyle Health Lifestyle Theory and the Convergence of Agency and Structure. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 46, pp. 51-67.
Coulange S., Perelli I., Peytremann A., Sahli F., Wozny D. (2009). Les étudiants et leur santé, Université de Genève et Haute école de Santé Genève.
Dobrescu P., Ciocea M., Cismaru D. (2009). Changing Patterns of Consumerism in Young People in Romania. Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations, 11(1) p.15.
Faludi C. (2005). Aspecte ale comportamentului sexual la studenţi. România socială. Drumul schimbării şi al integrării europene, Ed.Eikon, Cluj-Napoca, pp. 277-288.
Ionescu I. and Lupu A. (2007). Sociologia sănătăţii studenţilor, Ed. Universităţii A. I. Cuza, Iaşi.
Kaplan R. M., Saccuzzo D. P. (2005). Psychological Testing, Wadswoth.
Oanes C. (2010). Debut of the Sexual and Contraceptive Life of Romanian Female Student.
A Qualitative Study. Romanian Journal of Population Study, IV (2).
Rebeleanu A., Soitu D. (2012). Intergenerational Solidarity in Romanian Social and Health Care Policies. Analele Ştiintifice ale Universităţii "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" Iaşi, Sociologie si Asistenta Sociala, V (1).
Steptoe A., Wardle J. (2001). Health behaviour, risk awareness and emotional well- being in students from Eastern Europe and Western Europe. Social Science & Medicine. 53, pp.1621–1630.
Vasile M. (2013). Sănătate percepută, calitatea serviciilor publice de sănătate şi satisfacţia faţă de viaţă. Calitatea vieţii, 4.
Vasile M. (2010). Stilurile de viaţă în România postcomunistă, Ed. Lumen, Iaşi.
Vlădescu C., Pascu O., Astărăstoaie V. et al. (2008). Raportul Comisiei Prezidenţiale pentru analiza şi elaborarea politicilor din domeniul sănătăţii publice din România: Un sistem sanitar centrat pe nevoile cetăţeanului.
Wardle J., Steptoe A. (1991). The European health and behavior survey: Rationale, methods and initial results from the United Kingdom. Social Science & Medicine 33, pp. 925–936.
Wechsler H., Lee J. E., Nelson T., Lee H. (2003). Drinking and Driving. The Influence of Alcohol-Control Policies. American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
