We investigated the process by which information concerning healthy life style was obtained by parents in order to obtain basic data that may be used for health education in family life. The subjects were 1,461 first-year elementary school pupils who had undergone a physial examination at the age of 3 years at Tachikawa Health Center ; 1,360 subjects were pupils of Tachikawa Elementary School and 101 subjects were pupils of other elementary schools for whom follow-up observation was possible. The items surveyed were gender, age, family composition, father's occupation, mother's occupation, 5 items of points of interest in healthy life style, and 15 sources of information on healthy life style. CHAID analysis, with 5 items of points of interest in healthy life style (nutrition/diet, exercise/fitness-building, recreational activities, prevention of dental caries, prevention of deterioration in eyesight) as the criterion variables and 15 types of information sources as the explanatory variables, was used to investigate the structural characteristics of and the information sources affecting "healthy life style" of children. The results of analysis showed that 1) newspapers, parents with children of the same age, and newsletters from the child's health education teacher at school are the most influential informational sources for nutrition/diet ; 2) television is the most influential informational source for exercise/fitness-building ; 3) newspapers and newsletters from the child's health education teacher at school are the most influential informational sources for recreational activities ; 4) newspapers and newsletters from the child's health education teacher at school are the most influential informational sources for prevention of dental caries ; and 5) television, newspapers, and friends are the most influential informational sources for prevention of deterioration in eyesight.
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