Abstract
As a preliminary study to evalute the possible roles of health education (education to acquire a healthy lifestyle) in supporting the development of a smokeless society, the relationship between opinions concerning the right to clean air in public places (RCA) and personal lifestyle as well as the relationships among three aspects of RCA and personal lifestyle were investigated in a randomly-selected sample (n=887) of a population using a self-administered questionnaire. Relationships between opinions concerning RCA and lifestyle were analyzed within four subgroups of subjects defined by smoking status and sex. The results of these analyses indicated that opinions concerning RCA among women are related to knowledge of RCA and personal lifestyle while male opinions concerning RCA bear no statistical relationship to personal lifestyle. These results imply the possibility that knowledge of RCA and opinions concerning RCA among women can be effectively promoted by health education. The results of our analyses concerning the three aspects of RCA and personal lifestyle also indicate that attitudes toward RCA are positively correlated with factors other than knowledge and opinions concerning RCA; this implies the possibility that health education has but a limited impact on attitudes toward RCA.
