The relation of socio-economic factors and health behaviors of the parents to caries status of a group of 3-year-old children in Bangkok

Authors

Preeya Attavanich
Yuttana Punya-ngarm
Ravewan Punya-ngarm

Publication Date

2008-05-01

Abstract

Objective To identify the relationship of the socio-economic environment and health related behavior of the parents to caries status of the children aged 3 years. Materials and methods Two hundred and sixty-seven samples were randomly selected from 3 year old children in Bangkok Metropolis who attended government and non-government nurseries during official hours. The subjects were examined for their caries status according to the World Health Organization's criteria. The purposive questionnaire were sent to the parents to assess their socio-economic and health related behaviors. The socio-economic data included type of habitat and family member, educational level, income level and type of occupation. The behavioral data covered the knowledge, attitude and practice in child oral health care. The variables were statistically analyzed by Pearsonûs correlation and stepwise multiple regression. Results The educational level, income level and type of occupation as well as the knowledge, attitude and practice in child oral health care were statistically significant when tested against dmft and dmfs (p ≤ 0.05). The contradictory result was on the attitude and the dmfs. In the same way, the relation between socio-economic status and health related behavior of the parents showed significant result (p ≤ 0.05). By means of the stepwise multiple regression analysis, it was found that the knowledge in child oral health care combined with the income level of the parents could significantly predict the child caries status (p ≤ 0.01) and the percentage of explanation was 9.5 (R2 = 0.095). Conclusion The knowledge in child oral health care of the parents was reversely correlated with the occurrence of carious lesion. The power of prediction would increase when the knowledge in child oral health care was combined with the income level of the parents.

DOI

10.58837/CHULA.CUDJ.31.2.13

First Page

261

Last Page

272

Recommended Citation

Attavanich, Preeya; Punya-ngarm, Yuttana; and Punya-ngarm, Ravewan (2008) "The relation of socio-economic factors and health behaviors of the parents to caries status of a group of 3-year-old children in Bangkok," Chulalongkorn University Dental Journal: Vol. 31: Iss. 2, Article 13.
DOI: 10.58837/CHULA.CUDJ.31.2.13
Available at: https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/cudj/vol31/iss2/13