Health and Illness Behavior
Health and illness behaviors are associated with level of disability, quality of life, patterns of illness, and risk of death. It is tempting to view such health-related outcomes solely through the lenses provided by the biomedical sciences; however, the behaviors that importantly shape individuals' experiences of sickness or wellness, and life or death, are more completely understood from a sociological perspective. The confluence of individuals' life histories, their personality characteristics and social experiences, and their social positions influences health and illness behaviors and tells us much about how to enhance health and well-being, and mitigate disability and sickness. An examination of health and illness behaviors, therefore, has important public health implications.
Health Behaviors
Health behavior usually refers to preventive orientations and the positive steps people take to enhance their physical well-being and vitality. Traditionally, work in health behavior has focused on the use of preventive services such as immunizations, medical checkups, hypertension screening, and prophylactic dentistry (Becker 1974). It also includes research on such behaviors as cigarette smoking, seat-belt use, medication adherence, substance abuse, nutritional practices, and exercise (Janz and Becker 1994).
The conventional approach to health behavior has been limited, focusing on the origins of particular behaviors damaging to health and strategies to modify them.
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