Factors affecting health risk behaviors of the Raglai ethnic group in Khanh Vinh district-Khanh Hoa province-Vietnam

Abstract

This study examines factors affecting health risk behaviors--- specifically, smoking and drinking alcohol---of the Raglai ethnic group in Khanh Vinh district, Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam. It uses secondary data from a crosssectional survey on health indicators of Raglai people aged 20-51 in Khanh Vinh district, conducted by researchers at the Khanh Hoa Department of Health from October 2012 to October 2014. Simple random sampling design was used to select a total of 818 Raglai ethnic citizens, who were contacted directly for a face-to-face interview by health officers. The results of binary logistic regression reveal that age group, gender, educational level and income affect health risk behaviors. The findings indicate that age and income have a positive relationship with smoking and drinking alcohol behaviors, while educational level was found to have a negative relationship. Male Raglai are 8.03 times more likely to report smoking and 19.4 times more likely to report drinking alcohol than female.