Confidence in the future, health-related behaviour and psychological distress: results from a web-based cross-sectional study of 101 257 Finns

Abstract

ObjectivesTo investigate the role of socioeconomic status and psychological stress to potential associations between confidence in the future and a wide range of health-related behaviours.DesignWeb-based cross-sectional study including an ‘Electronic Health Check’ at the Finnish Happiness-Flourishing Study website linked to a TV programme on happiness and depression.SettingThe Finnish population with access to the internet.Participants101 257 Finns aged 18 and above (21 365 men; 79 892 women). Participants who were under the age of 18 and who did not provide information about their gender were excluded.Primary outcome measuresAs planned, we assessed smoking, weekly alcohol consumption and binge drinking, daily intake of fruits and vegetables and regular exercise.ResultsCompared with participants with low confidence in the future, those with high confidence were less likely to be daily smokers (men OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.52 to 0.65; women 0.57, 95% CI 0.53 to 0.61) and binge drinkers (men 0.57; 0.52 to 0.63; women 0.54; 0.50 to 0.57). Participants with high confidence in the future were more likely to exercise regularly (men OR 2.82, 95% CI 2.55 to 3.13; women 2.57, 95% CI 2.44 to 2.71) and consume vegetables (men OR 2.48, 95% CI 2.25 to 2.74; women 2.13, 95% CI 2.03 to 2.24) and fruits (men OR 2.09, 95% CI 1.86 to 2.35; women 1.83, 95% CI 1.74 to 1.93) daily. Adjustment for current psychological distress and satisfaction for income attenuated the results.ConclusionsHaving confidence in the future is strongly associated with a healthy lifestyle, as assessed by a healthy diet, physical exercise and substance abuse. Health-related interventions may benefit from tailoring interventions according to the target population's level of confidence in the future as well as their level of psychological distress.

Exploring Associations Between the Self-Reported Values, Well-Being, and Health Behaviors of Finnish Citizens: Cross-Sectional Analysis of More Than 100,000 Web-Survey Responses

“…The data were collected at the public website of the FHFS campaign over the period of 1 year, between 2009 and 2010 [56]. FHFS was a national effort to promote mental well-being and a healthy lifestyle in the Finnish population.…”

“…It was freely available to all Finnish-speaking individuals having access to internet. The purpose of the Web survey was to allow participants to measure their happiness levels with the Happiness-Flourishing scale [56] and to encourage them to identify the key sources in life that contributed to their happiness. However, the survey also involved questions about a variety of other well-being factors and health behaviors.…”

“…This study aims to discover the associations between self-reported values (commitment to values and value priorities), perceived well-being, and various self-reported health behaviors from a large, cross-sectional dataset of open Web-survey responses, available from more than 100,000 Finnish citizens. The data were collected as part of the Finnish Happiness-Flourishing Study (FHFS), which was a national effort to promote mental well-being and healthy behaviors in the Finnish population [56]. The survey included questions assessing various dimensions of well-being and several different health behaviors.…”

The psychometric properties of the Italian adaptation of the Health Orientation Scale (HOS)

“…The second subscale extrapolated by the factorial analysis was named the Health Esteem (HES), which describes people who show positive thinking and confidence in handling their health status, are optimistic about the future and perceive themselves in good physical shape. Studies in literature show that people who are confident about their health status and their future have more probability to follow a healthy lifestyle [38,86], paying attention for instance to their diet, physical exercise and avoiding risk behaviours such as substance abuse [87].…”

Optimism and Other Sources of Psychological Well-Being

“…The mechanisms underlying this link have also become increasingly clear. With respect to optimism, for example, emerging evidence has already identified several mechanisms through which optimism exerts its beneficial cardiovascular effects, including promotion of healthier physiology (eg, enhanced neuroendocrine and endothelial function, reduced inflammation, better blood pressure) [15][16][17] ; a greater tendency toward healthy lifestyle habits, such as exercise and better diet 18 ; and indirect benefits that can secondarily promote health, such as better social functioning. 19 By contrast, negative psychosocial risk factors are pathophysiologic, drive negative health behaviors, and inhibit the ability of patients to make effective behavioral change.…”