Determinants of Dental Health Problems Among Adult Patients at Dental Clinic, Debre Berhan Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia: Unmatched Case-Control Study.

PURPOSE: This study was aimed to assess the determinants of dental health problems among adult patients at the dental clinic of Debre Berhan Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia. METHODS: A case-control study was conducted to recruit a total of 267 adults (cases = 134, and controls = 133) who received oral health screening service in Debre Berhan Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, 2018. Data were collected by physical examination and pretested semi-structured questionnaire from March 1 to 31, 2018. Collected data were entered in EpiData 3.1 and analyzed by using SPSS version 20. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regressions were done via the forward stepwise method. Variables were declared statistically significant when p-value <0.05. RESULTS: Of the total study participants, 75 (55%) of cases and 62 (46.6%) of controls were males. The mean age (± SD) of cases was 36.2 (± 14.2) years and that of controls was 31.4 (± 10.3) years. The classification table revealed that the sensitivity of cases was 70.7%, and the specificity of controls was 74.8%. This study showed that 28 (20.89%) of cases and 6 (4.5%) of controls had confirmed gastritis (P < 0.05). Regarding dental health information, 78 (58.2%) of cases and 123 (92.5%) of controls perceived that they had received dental health information from different sources. Access to dental health information and tooth brushing practice reduced dental health problems (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.28; 95% CI: 0.12, 0.64; and AOR = 0.24; 95% CI: 0.13, 0.45), respectively, whereas study participants who had gastritis were at increased risk of developing dental health problems (AOR = 3.12; 95% CI: 1.14, 8.57). INTERPRETATION: Study participants who had adequate information on dental health had a reduced risk of developing dental health problems by 72% and participants who practiced tooth brushing were at reduced risk of developing dental health problems by 76%. However, individuals who had gastritis were 3 times more likely to develop dental health problems compared with their counterparts. CONCLUSION: In summary, health information, tooth brushing practice, and gastritis infection were the determinants of dental health problems. Thus, health information dissemination on dental health particularly on how to prevent and control dental health problems is very critical. Moreover, strategies to combat gastritis integrated with life course principles should be strengthened to improve dental health.

Individual and culture-level components of survey response styles: A multi-level analysis using cultural models of selfhood.

Variations in acquiescence and extremity pose substantial threats to the validity of cross-cultural research that relies on survey methods. Individual and cultural correlates of response styles when using 2 contrasting types of response mode were investigated, drawing on data from 55 cultural groups across 33 nations. Using 7 dimensions of self-other relatedness that have often been confounded within the broader distinction between independence and interdependence, our analysis yields more specific understandings of both individual- and culture-level variations in response style. When using a Likert-scale response format, acquiescence is strongest among individuals seeing themselves as similar to others, and where cultural models of selfhood favour harmony, similarity with others and receptiveness to influence. However, when using Schwartz's (2007) portrait-comparison response procedure, acquiescence is strongest among individuals seeing themselves as self-reliant but also connected to others, and where cultural models of selfhood favour self-reliance and self-consistency. Extreme responding varies less between the two types of response modes, and is most prevalent among individuals seeing themselves as self-reliant, and in cultures favouring self-reliance. As both types of response mode elicit distinctive styles of response, it remains important to estimate and control for style effects to ensure valid comparisons.

Cultural bases for self-evaluation: seeing oneself positively in different cultural contexts.

Several theories propose that self-esteem, or positive self-regard, results from fulfilling the value priorities of one's surrounding culture. Yet, surprisingly little evidence exists for this assertion, and theories differ about whether individuals must personally endorse the value priorities involved. We compared the influence of four bases for self-evaluation (controlling one's life, doing one's duty, benefitting others, achieving social status) among 4,852 adolescents across 20 cultural samples, using an implicit, within-person measurement technique to avoid cultural response biases. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses showed that participants generally derived feelings of self-esteem from all four bases, but especially from those that were most consistent with the value priorities of others in their cultural context. Multilevel analyses confirmed that the bases of positive self-regard are sustained collectively: They are predictably moderated by culturally normative values but show little systematic variation with personally endorsed values.

Culture and the distinctiveness motive: constructing identity in individualistic and collectivistic contexts.

The motive to attain a distinctive identity is sometimes thought to be stronger in, or even specific to, those socialized into individualistic cultures. Using data from 4,751 participants in 21 cultural groups (18 nations and 3 regions), we tested this prediction against our alternative view that culture would moderate the ways in which people achieve feelings of distinctiveness, rather than influence the strength of their motivation to do so. We measured the distinctiveness motive using an indirect technique to avoid cultural response biases. Analyses showed that the distinctiveness motive was not weaker-and, if anything, was stronger-in more collectivistic nations. However, individualism-collectivism was found to moderate the ways in which feelings of distinctiveness were constructed: Distinctiveness was associated more closely with difference and separateness in more individualistic cultures and was associated more closely with social position in more collectivistic cultures. Multilevel analysis confirmed that it is the prevailing beliefs and values in an individual's context, rather than the individual's own beliefs and values, that account for these differences.