REGIONAL AND INTRA-URBAN DISPARITIES OF MENTAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL HEALTH CONDITIONS AS INFLUENTIAL WELL-BEING INDICATORS

Levente HalászResearch assistant

Kodolányi János University of Applied Sciences

EUROGEO International ConferenceMalta, Valletta

15-17th May, 2014

Research has been realised within the confines of TÁMOP 4.2.2.A-11/1/KONV-2012-0069 project

1. Material living –standards (income, consumption and wealth),

2. Health, 3. Education, 4. Personal activities including work, 5. Political voice and governance , 6. Social connections and relationships, 7. Environment (present and future conditions), 8. Insecurity, of an economic as well as a

physical nature.

Health= State of Physical, Mental and Social Well-Being (dynamic proccess)

Lifeterm is determinated by health + culture + economic situation + educationLife expectancy: Increases upwards in urban hierarchyWest-East or centre-periphery dichotomies do not exist properly! (Longest: Budapest, Szombathely, Debrecen, Győr, worst: Miskolc, Békéscsaba, Tatabánya)Life expectancy (Hungary): male: 70,1, female: 77,9

STIGLITZ WELL-BEING DIMENSIONS

Source: http://szike.postr.hu/javulo-egeszseg-oriasi-egyenlotlensegek-europaban

• Compare to other nations: unfavourable healt conditions• Lower-starta population: Health, healthy lifestyle do not have considerable position• Unequal access to health-relatied services, unequality in terms of maintenance opportunities.• Explanation to interregional and intraregional disparities: economic disparities, unjust

redistributive system, unfavourable employment positions, impeded availability to education and health services, maleficient living and dwelling circumstances, low chance to healthy and balanced life (Uzzoli, A. 2009)

HEALTH SITUATION IN HUNGARY

INFLUENTIAL THEORETICAL FACTORS OF HEALTH DISPARITIES

• Cultural-Behaviorist: lifestyle, individual risk factors, socio-cultural factors;

• Psycho-social: healt behavios, subjective health evaluation, stress factors;

• Materialist/Structuralist: socio-economical situation, finiancial situation, life circumstances, labour market position;

• Neo-materialist: socio-structural circumstances, role of „space” (Egedy-Uzzoli, 2013)

METHODOLOGY

• Survey N=5000 (3000 in regional centres (9 cities), 2000 in suburban settlements (developed and underdeveloped settlements)

• Realised: December 2013 – March 2014

• Survey questions, empirically founded recent results:

1. How satisfied are you with personal state of health?

2. Do you smoke?

3. How stressful is your life?

4. How often do you have the following symptomes: Headache, Backache, Sleeping disorders, Feeling of fatigue, Stomachache, Lokomotiv disorders?

5. Do you practise the following health-maintaining opportunities: Healthy alimenation, Sports, active recreation, Alternative treatments, Vitamins, nutrition supplements

SMOKING• Males: 1/3

• Females: ¼

• Attitude-discrepancy: 41% thinks only permanent smoking causes health-related disorders

• In nine metropolitan regions: 29,6% smokes

Source: http://szike.postr.hu/javulo-egeszseg-oriasi-egyenlotlensegek-europaban

CONCLUSIONS

• Metropolitan centres represent development islands (isolatums) in Hungarian rural area.

• Economic wellfare has influence on local state of health.

• Intraregional level: West-East, Centre-Periphery dichotomies are not always relevant

• and obvious

• Developed and underdeveloped urban periphery converges to each other, only smart differences appeared. Despite they are the least developed suburban settlements, concerning 3160 Hungarian settlements, they belong to most developed and rapidly improving ones.

• Intraurban level: apparent and sharp differences between socio-economically developed, secure, prestigeous quarters and diverged, segregated quarters characterised by low-strata urban population.