Abstract
Studies on associations between social relations and health-related behaviors were reviewed. Most of the empirical studies show that individuals with good social support and social networks practice preventive health behaviors and that community adhesion is also related to healthy behaviors. However, there are inconsistent results according to support resources and gender. Intervention to promote healthy behaviors involving the significant others as a strategy seems to be effective for the patients with chronic illness. Since the effect of educational community intervention based mainly on the social learning theory seems to have limitations, more effective methodology is warranted.
