Dataset Information

Friendship Network and Dental Brushing Behavior among Middle School Students: An Agent Based Modeling Approach.

ABSTRACT: By using a standard questionnaire, the level of dental brushing frequency was assessed among 201 adolescent female middle school students in Tehran. The initial assessment was repeated after 5 months, in order to observe the dynamics in dental health behavior level. Logistic Regression model was used to evaluate the correlation among individuals' dental health behavior in their social network. A significant correlation on dental brushing habits was detected among groups of friends. This correlation was further spread over the network within the 5 months period. Moreover, it was identified that the average brushing level was improved within the 5 months period. Given that there was a significant correlation between social network's nodes' in-degree value, and brushing level, it was suggested that the observed improvement was partially due to more popularity of individuals with better tooth brushing habit. Agent Based Modeling (ABM) was used to demonstrate the dynamics of dental brushing frequency within a sample of friendship network. Two models with static and dynamic assumptions for the network structure were proposed. The model with dynamic network structure successfully described the dynamics of dental health behavior. Based on this model, on average, every 43 weeks a student changes her brushing habit due to learning from her friends. Finally, three training scenarios were tested by these models in order to evaluate their effectiveness. When training more popular students, considerable improvement in total students' brushing frequency was demonstrated by simulation results.

SUBMITTER: Sadeghipour M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5245796 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Friendship Network and Dental Brushing Behavior among Middle School Students: An Agent Based Modeling Approach.

Sadeghipour Maryam M Khoshnevisan Mohammad Hossein MH Jafari Afshin A Shariatpanahi Seyed Peyman SP

PloS one 20170119 1

By using a standard questionnaire, the level of dental brushing frequency was assessed among 201 adolescent female middle school students in Tehran. The initial assessment was repeated after 5 months, in order to observe the dynamics in dental health behavior level. Logistic Regression model was used to evaluate the correlation among individuals' dental health behavior in their social network. A significant correlation on dental brushing habits was detected among groups of friends. This correlat ...[more]

PMID: 28103260

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Project description:IntroductionThis study aimed to determine current levels of physical activity and sedentary behavior in middle school students on the basis of grade, sex, student attitudes toward physical education, and residence location.MethodsIn 2013, a cross-sectional study of 1793 students aged 12 to 15 years was conducted across eight middle schools in Beijing, China. Four schools were selected from an urban district and another four schools were from a suburban district. Physical activity and sedentary behavior data were collected using the commonly used school-based Chinese version of the China Health and Nutrition Survey.ResultsThe mean age of sampled students was 13.3 ± 1.0 years; 51.5% were boys. Approximately 76.6% of students reported having three 45-minute physical education classes every week. A total of 35.6% students spent ? 1 h/day performing moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during school, and 34.9% spent ? 1 h/day in MVPA outside school time. Approximately half (49.7%) of the students engaged in reading, writing, or drawing for ? 2 h/day, and 42.9% reported screen time for ? 2 h/day. Although boys spent more time engaged in physical activity than girls did, they also spent more time exhibiting sedentary behavior. Each 10-unit increase in attitudes toward physical education was associated with an increased odds of 1.15 (95%CI: 1.09-1.20) for spending more than 1 h/day on MVPA. Students in suburban schools reported engaging in physical activity less when compared with those in urban schools.ConclusionThe majority of our students did not meet the current physical activity recommendations, and about half of the students spent excessive time engaging in sedentary behaviors. Findings from this study highlight a positive association between student attitudes toward physical education and physical activity. Studies are needed to further explore the role of student attitudes toward physical education in promoting physical activity among Chinese students.

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Dataset Information

Friendship Network and Dental Brushing Behavior among Middle School Students: An Agent Based Modeling Approach.

Publications

Friendship Network and Dental Brushing Behavior among Middle School Students: An Agent Based Modeling Approach.

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