Korean J Fam Pract. 2017; 7(3): 330-336  https://doi.org/10.21215/kjfp.2017.7.3.330
The Health Behavior of Single Adult Households in Korean over 30: The 6th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
Su-Hwan Kim, Yu-Lee Kim*, Kun-Woo Kim, Kwang-Hyun Kim
Department of Family Medicine, Busan Medical Center, Busan, Korea
Yu-Lee Kim
Tel: +82-51-507-3000, Fax: +82-51-507-3001
E-mail: 07721052@hanmail.net
Received: May 13, 2016; Revised: September 1, 2016; Accepted: September 1, 2016; Published online: June 20, 2017.
© The Korean Academy of Family Medicine. All rights reserved.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: Household type is an important factor affecting personal health maintenance. Previous studies were conducted mainly on the elderly. However, owing to social structure change, younger single households are on the increase. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify effects of single households with those aged 30 and over upon their health maintenance and status.
Methods: The participants in this study were 3,323 Koreans aged 30 and over participating in the 6th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The household types were classified into two groups. This study conducted independent two-sample t-test and chi-square independence test to identify the health maintenance and status according to household type and estimated odds ratio using univariate logistic regression with revised sex and ages.
Results: Single households were negative in most items of health maintenance and status compared with multiple households. Single households with those aged in their 70s and over were negative in health maintenance. Single households with those aged in their 50s and 60s showed high risks for mental health and chronic diseases. Single households with those aged in their 30s and 40s showed high risks for suicidal ideation.
Conclusion: Single households turned out to be unreasonable compared with multiple households, and young as well as elderly individuals aged over their 70s showed risks in health maintenance and status. Thus, inferring from the increasing trend of single households, it is suggested that it is necessary to establish medical plans customized for the characteristics of specific age groups.
Keywords: Single Household; Health Maintenance; Health Status
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