Toothbrushing Habits Associated with Family Culture in Finland

Objectives: This study aims to find out the associations between toothbrushing habits of the Finnish adolescents and the parental monitoring and attachment measures.

Methods: The survey was carried out in Finland in 2006 as a part of the WHO Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC) study. Structured questionnaires were distributed to the nationally representative sample of the Finnish adolescents in school classrooms and collected in the sealed envelopes. Altogether 5249 adolescents (in the age groups of 11, 13 and 15 years) returned the questionnaire. Response rate was 88.2%. Parental monitoring was measured by 5 different questions and parental attachment by 8 questions concerning mother and father separately. The summary variables were created for parental monitoring and attachment. Data was analyzed by bivariate analyses.

Results: Only 37% of boys and 56% of girls were brushing as recommended, more than once a day. These proportions seemed to be lowest, when parental monitoring and attachment (by both mother and father) were lowest. Only 52% of girls and 32% of boys were brushing as recommended, when the parental monitoring was low. When the girls had high attachment to their mothers 60% of them were brushing as recommended. Similarly, when the boys felt highly attached to their father 44% of them were brushing as recommended.

Conclusions: Low compliance for toothbrushing recommendations has been a concern in Finland. Toothbrushing habits of the adolescents seem to be strongly associated with the family culture.