Disparities of perceived wellness by smoking and professional status among young individuals in Brasov, Brasov County, Romania

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the association of risk factors such as smoking and professional status (students vs employed) as determinants of disparities in perceived wellness among Romanian individuals. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in which 145 participants were enrolled from December 2017 to February 2018, in Brasov, Brasov County, Transylvania, Romania. We used a simplified Perceived Wellness Survey model to measure the holistic individual perceived wellness status by professional and smoking status. Basic descriptive and multivariate analyses of variance were used to assess and contrast participants’ characteristics and wellness score distributions. A factor analysis was used to estimate Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin values and calculate standardized Cronbach’s coefficients. Results: The average age of our participants was 27.7 years. Compared with students, more employed participants tended to smoke electronic cigarettes ( p < 0.0001). The association between professional status and perceived wellness was non-significant. Employed participants were nevertheless more likely to regard themselves as more proactive in dealing with emotional ( p < 0.0001), environmental ( p = 0.0042), and spiritual issues ( p = 0.0039). Perceived physical wellness was statistically different by smoking status ( p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Among our study participants, there is an association between smoking and perceived wellness. For emotional, environmental, and spiritual domains, employed participants are more likely to regard themselves as more confident. Our study demonstrates the direct application of the Perceived Wellness Survey model in predicting the disparities of perceived wellness among young individuals. It allows health agencies to target disparity interventions among populations with high risk of low perceived wellness.