A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Children's oral health-related behaviors: individual stability and stage transitions
Authors: Tolvanen M, Lahti S, Poutanen R, Seppä L, Hausen H
Publication year: 2010
Journal: Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology
Journal name in source: Community dentistry and oral epidemiology
Journal acronym: Community Dent Oral Epidemiol
Volume: 38
Issue: 5
First page : 445
Last page: 52
Number of pages: 8
ISSN: 0301-5661
eISSN: 1600-0528
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0528.2010.00549.x
Abstract
In 2001-2005 in Pori, Finland, a program of oral health promotion (OHP) was targeted to schoolchildren and people involved in their life to provide social support for participants of the experimental group of a randomized clinical trial (RCT) on controlling caries.\nOur aim was to describe the individual stability and stage transitions for behaviors among children exposed to OHP in Pori and to ascertain whether these phenomena differed in the group that was also exposed to the experimental regimen of the RCT.\nThe study population consisted of all 5th and 6th graders who started the 2001-2002 school year in Pori (n = 1691); 1362 of them were monitored throughout the 3.4-year study. Of these children, 1138 were exposed to OHP and 224 to OHP and the experimental regimen of the RCT. Data on toothbrushing and use of xylitol products, candies, and soft- and sports drinks were gathered with questionnaires. Behavior variables were dichotomized into good and poor. The stability of behaviors and stage transitions was evaluated.\nOver half of the children had stable behaviors throughout the study. For those children whose behaviors changed, the behavior was more likely to improve than to worsen. For most behaviors, good behavior at baseline was associated with the ability to maintain the achieved good behavior and to recover from lapses to poor behaviors.\nIn childhood, behaviors, especially good ones, are rather stable. If healthy behaviors are learned young, lapses into poor behaviors, for instance during the teens, are likely be temporary rather than permanent.\nUNLABELLED\nOBJECTIVES\nMETHODS\nRESULTS\nCONCLUSION
In 2001-2005 in Pori, Finland, a program of oral health promotion (OHP) was targeted to schoolchildren and people involved in their life to provide social support for participants of the experimental group of a randomized clinical trial (RCT) on controlling caries.\nOur aim was to describe the individual stability and stage transitions for behaviors among children exposed to OHP in Pori and to ascertain whether these phenomena differed in the group that was also exposed to the experimental regimen of the RCT.\nThe study population consisted of all 5th and 6th graders who started the 2001-2002 school year in Pori (n = 1691); 1362 of them were monitored throughout the 3.4-year study. Of these children, 1138 were exposed to OHP and 224 to OHP and the experimental regimen of the RCT. Data on toothbrushing and use of xylitol products, candies, and soft- and sports drinks were gathered with questionnaires. Behavior variables were dichotomized into good and poor. The stability of behaviors and stage transitions was evaluated.\nOver half of the children had stable behaviors throughout the study. For those children whose behaviors changed, the behavior was more likely to improve than to worsen. For most behaviors, good behavior at baseline was associated with the ability to maintain the achieved good behavior and to recover from lapses to poor behaviors.\nIn childhood, behaviors, especially good ones, are rather stable. If healthy behaviors are learned young, lapses into poor behaviors, for instance during the teens, are likely be temporary rather than permanent.\nUNLABELLED\nOBJECTIVES\nMETHODS\nRESULTS\nCONCLUSION
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