Premium
The relationship between Sense of Coherence and toothbrushing behaviours in Iranian adolescents in Mashhad
Author(s) -
Dorri Mojtaba,
Sheiham Aubrey,
Hardy Rebecca,
Watt Richard
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of clinical periodontology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.456
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1600-051X
pISSN - 0303-6979
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-051x.2009.01497.x
Subject(s) - association (psychology) , medicine , logistic regression , stratified sampling , clinical psychology , cross sectional study , demography , dentistry , psychology , pathology , sociology , psychotherapist
Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the association between Sense of Coherence (SOC) and toothbrushing behaviours in Iranian adolescents in Mashhad. Materials and Methods: A representative stratified random sample of 1054 grade 6 Iranian students, living in Mashhad, answered a 37‐item questionnaire with questions on socio‐demographic characteristics, frequency of toothbrushing behaviours and Antonovsky's 13‐item SOC scale. Binary logistic regression was used to test the association between SOC and toothbrushing behaviours. Results: Higher SOC scores were significantly associated with more frequent toothbrushing behaviours ( p =0.01). This positive association remained significant after adjusting for sex and father's education level ( p =0.01). When testing this association for the boys and girls separately, the association was significant only for girls ( p =0.02). However, the interaction between sex and SOC was not significant ( p =0.56). The association between toothbrushing and sex remained significant after adjusting for SOC ( p <0.001). Boys had a significantly stronger SOC than girls ( p =0.04). Conclusions: SOC was associated with toothbrushing frequency in Iranian adolescents in Mashhad. SOC did not fully explain the sex difference in toothbrushing behaviours.