L.A. Kovalenko, postgraduate
B.P. Yakovlev, professor, Dr.Psych. Surgut state university of KhMARUgra, Surgut

 

Key words: healthy way of life, feminine and masculine types of women, self-appraisal, mental state.

Introduction. Proceeding from the theoretical analysis of the concept "healthy way of life" and its criteria, way of life is one of the crucial biosocial categories, integrating the ideas on specific way (type) of human living [4]. It is characterized by specific features of man's routine life involving his labor activity, mode of life, forms of spending free time, satisfaction of material and spiritual needs, participation in public life, norms and standards of behavior. Way of life is one of criteria of social progress, a man's image. Nowadays 50-55% of the total of all factors determining human health refer to way of life [6].

Our research interests were focused on the studies of the way, quality of life and self-rated health of women with feminine and masculine characteristics [8, 3, 10]. In the study the researchers suggested that way of life, evaluation of quality of life and self-rated state of health and gender characteristics are closely correlated.

Way of life was studied using the compound questionnaire of sociopsychological qualimetry of way of life "Healthy way of life" (L.A. Kovalenko, 2012), enabling allocation of habits of way of life by the following aspects: sleep, diet, quality of diet, water schedule, routine of work, general state after work, resting time rules and habits, physical activity, bad habits and their severity as well as estimation of the state of health [5]. The questionnaire "Healthy way of life" included the blocks of the “Healthy way of life” questionnaire (the modified questionnaire of psychological-educational qualimetry of way of life – A.S. Galitsky, E.Yu. Bereznyak), B.P. Yakovlev’s subjective health assessment (SHA) and the method of self-rated health by V.P. Voytenko [2, 7]

The results of the analysis of the study of specifics of way of life in the group 1 of respondents (feminine type of the course of mental activity) and group 2 of respondents (masculine type of the course of mental activity) are presented in Tab. 1.

Table 1. Analysis of the way of life of women with feminine (group 1) and masculine (group 2) types of the course of mental activity, %

Aspect and indices of way of life	Group 1 (n=52)	Group 2 (n=158)
Sleep habits
Fall asleep: a) easily and immediately; b) hard and not immediately; c) with medicine	85 15 0	40 50 10
Eating habits
Eat three times a day.	55	45
Drink from 5 to 8 glasses of water a day.	35	15
Eat in public eating places	10	50
Work habits
Work: a) easily, with little effort;  at ease, but have to work; b) with big effort and for a long time, with overstrain	50   50	60   40
Rest habits
How many hours a day do you spend outdoors? 1-2 h; 3-4 h; 5-6 h	30 40 25	20 60 5
How often do you go to the country during the year? a) I live in the park belt; b) every week; c) 1-2 times a month; d) sometimes; e) never go	15 0 15 60 10	10 5 5 50 30
Habits of physical activity
Do you do morning exercises? a) yes b) no	15 85	10 90
Bad habits
Do you smoke?	30	55
Do you drink alcohol (including beer)?	20	40

 

The results of the study of self-rated health combined with the comparative analysis of the average in two gender groups in the average reference value of the stipulated scales using the Student’s t-test are adduced in Tab. 2.

Table 2. The results of the comparative analysis of the level of self-rated health and state of mind of women with feminine (group 1) and masculine (group 2) types of the course of mental activity

Self-appraisal level	Average (reference)	Average (group 1) n=52	Average (group 2) n=158	Significance level, р
Self-rated health (by V.P. Voytenko)	14	14,00	14,85	0,480
Subjective assessment of mental state (by B.P. Yakovlev)	24	29,7	22,5	0,04

 

The level of integral assessment of mental state in the women with the feminine type is higher than of the ones with the masculine type of the course of mental activity, which generally indicates to the decrease of the comfort psychological state of masculine women [7].

Conclusions.                       

1. According to the study, the type of the course of mental activity influences formation of health culture, quality and way of life. More expressed masculine features in the woman’s character (masculine behavior type) promote higher inclination to formation of unhealthy habits in life.

2. Women with the formed gender-typical self-concept (feminine type) have less bad habits and higher quality of life compared with the ones with problems with formation of the gender-typical self-concept (masculine or androgynous type).

Health culture is an integral part of the background knowledge of a modern educated individual [1]. Nowadays every man incapable of efficient maintenance of his health (with an insufficient health culture level), frequently ill and physically weak can easily be unclaimed in the new social and economic relations [9].

References

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2. Kletsina, I.S. Gender socialization / I.S. Kletsina. – St.Petersburg, 1998. – P. 202. (In Russian)
3. Korkhova, I.V. Gender aspects of health / I.V. Korkhova // Narodonaselenie. – 2000. – № 2. – P. 70–79. (In Russian)
4. Lisitsyn, Yu.P. Some words on health /Yu.D. Lisitsyn. – Moscow. Sov. Rossiya, 1986. – P. 138–163. (In Russian)
5. Nikiforov, G.S. Tutorial on health psychology: study guide / G.S. Nikiforov. – St.Petersburg: Piter, 2005. – P. 32–192. (In Russian)
6. Nikiforov, G.S. Health psychology: study guide / G.S. Nikiforov. – St.Petersburg: Rech, 2002. – P. 85–94. (In Russian)
7. Yakovlev, B.P Psychophyiological basics of health / B.P. Yakovlev. O. Litovchenko // Uchebny kurs. – Moscow, 2010. – 285 P. (In Russian)
8. Leaper С .The use of masculine and feminine to describe women's and men's behavior // Journal of social psychology. 1995. Vol. 135. № 3. p. 359–369.
9. Noak H. Concepts of health and health promotion // Measurements in Health promotion and Protection. – Copenhagen, 1987. – P. 5–28.
10. Gender: Health. Retrieved from: http://www.adb.org/Documents/Translations/Russian/Gender_Health_RU.pdf

Author’s contacts: apokin_vv@mail.ru