A feeling of hopelessness, health status and lifestyle in East Asia

The theme of the East Asian Social Survey (EASS) 2010 module was health and society in East Asia. Besides questions on physical conditions, lifestyle habits, and health-seeking behavior, the survey incorporated the Medical Outcomes Study 12-item Short Form (SF-12) designed to assess general health related quality of life (HRQOL). Although hopelessness has been found to be associated with mortality, cardiovascular disease, depression and suicidality in Europe, the prevalence of hopelessness and correlated factors remain unknown in East Asia. Using the Japanese and Korean data, the present study found the following results: (1) On average, hopelessness level was lower in South Korea, but the proportion of people who were in the “high hopelessness” group was higher in South Korea; (2) In both countries, high hopelessness was more prevalent among older women; (3) In both countries, high hopelessness was significantly associated with count of chronic diseases and low income; (4) High hopelessness was associated with less education and negatively associated with everyday exercise for men; (5) Korean men exercise more often than Japanese men; (6) Japanese men drank more often than Korean men, but their everyday drinking was negatively associated with high hopelessness, while more moderate frequency of drinking was negatively associated with high hopelessness for Korean men; (7) For Japanese women, high hopelessness was associated with smoking; (8) For Korean women, high hopelessness was associated with everyday drinking. (9) Hopelessness was strongly associated with Health-Related Quality of Life, especially with its vitality subscale scores. The results of China and Taiwan will be also discussed.