A Sociodemographic Analysis of Preventive Dental Behavior among White American Families

Abstract

Data collected from a national family dental survey were used to study the relationships between the sociodemographic characteristics and the preventive dental behavior of wives, husbands, and children. A canonical correlational analysis showed that preventive dental be havior of family members including toothbrushing, flossing, and preventive dental visits, sig nificantly correlated with sociodemographic characteristics (level of education, income, occu pation, population density, age, family size, and presence of children). The relationships studied accounted for 11-15% of the variance in the preventive dental behavior of family members. However, the patterns of correlation for different family members varied. The extent of the effects of various sociodemographic variables on preventive dental behavior were not uniform and the degrees of responsiveness of toothbrushing, flossing, and dental visits to the influence of sociodemographic characteristics were also different. The results of the study are compared with those of previous studies. The implications of the findings are discussed.