To examine the correlates of heavy Internet use and determine the associations of heavy Internet use with various health risk behaviors and health‐promoting behaviors among Chinese adolescents, an anonymous, self‐administered health behavior questionnaire was completed by 2427 matriculants into a Hong Kong university (mean age = 18.9 y) and returned at compulsory health examination. Of students, 14.8% reported heavy Internet use (>4 h/day) and such use was associated with lower likelihood of engaging in health‐promoting activities such as exercising and seeking medical care. At the same time, heavy Internet use was correlated with multiple risk behaviors such as skipping meals and sleeping late as well as poorer health outcomes such as higher likelihood of being overweight or having hypersomnia. Given the double burden of poorer health outcomes and fewer health‐promoting behaviors, heavy Internet users represent a particularly challenging group for adolescent health promotion.
Introduction
Despite recent media coverage in the topic of sexless marriages in East Asia, population-based studies examining the absence of sexual activity among nonelderly married individuals are scant. Previous studies have not simultaneously examined sociodemographic, physiological, and lifestyle predictors of sexless marriages.
Aims
To determine the prevalence of past-year sexlessness and the associated factors among the married Chinese adults in Hong Kong.
Methods
An anonymous, population-based telephone survey was conducted on 2,846 married Chinese men and women between the ages of 25 and 59 in Hong Kong.
Main Outcome Measures
The prevalence of past-year sexlessness and the associated factors and mental health symptoms were examined.
Results
The prevalence of past-year sexlessness between the ages of 25–34 years, 35–44 years and 45–59 years was 5.5, 5.1, and 17.0%, respectively, among married males, and 8.3, 12.4, and 31.6%, respectively, among married females. Older age and poor spousal relationship were associated with sexlessness for females, whereas lack of interest in sex, older age, and lower education were significant factors for males. Married women demonstrated statistically significant associations between sexlessness and poorer mental health indicators, such as lower quality of life and being bothered by the unavailability of a sex partner.
Conclusions
Sexlessness is prevalent among certain subgroups of urban Chinese couples in Hong Kong, and the large discrepancy in sexlessness between married men and women in each age strata suggests a high prevalence of extramarital relationships. Contrary to commonly held beliefs, there was a stronger association between sexlessness and poorer psychosocial symptoms among married females than males. Sexless marriages are an underappreciated phenomenon among urban Chinese individuals.
Alcohol misuse is a health hazard to Chinese students in a university environment. Proactive policies aimed at preventing harmful alcohol use should be considered by university authorities.
In 2009, a cross-sectional survey of 360 poultry workers in Hong Kong, China, showed that workers had inadequate levels of avian influenza (H5N1) risk knowledge, preventive behavior, and outbreak preparedness. The main barriers to preventive practices were low perceived benefits and interference with work. Poultry workers require occupation-specific health promotion.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.