Health promoting lifestyle of Iranian males and females older adults

Majid Movahed, Shiraz University
Halimeh Enayat, Shiraz University
Nasibeh Zanjari, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences
Rasoul Sadeghi, University of Tehran

Gender research on health emphasizes the importance of how male and female’s healthy behaviors are similar or different. The aim of this paper is to estimate the prevalence and factors associated to health promoting lifestyles with emphasis gender differences. The participants of the study consisted of 400 older adults (aged 60 years and more)from Shiraz city, who chosen by proportional stratified-sampling method during summer 2011. The Health Promotion Model (Pender, 1996) was used as the theoretical foundations for this study. Binary analysis showed gender predicts significantly scores of four of six health-promoting lifestyle sub-scales. We found out females had higher scores of health responsibility and interpersonal relations than males, and vis-a-vis males had higher scores of physical activity and stress management than females. There was no significant difference between gender and scores of two sub-scales; nutrition and spiritual growth. For overall health-promoting lifestyle, binary analysis showed males has higher score than females, although this result wasn’t statistically significant. Multivariate analysis showed health promoting lifestyle score were positively associated with female gender. In conclusion, controlling for socio-economic variables (such as education, living arrangement, social support, self-efficacy, aging perception), we found significant difference in health promoting lifestyle between males and females, with females having higher mean score.