Social networks and health-promoting behaviors among North Korean refugees in South Korea

ABSTRACT

Poor health behaviors among North Korean refugees (NKRs) in South Korea are serious risk factors hindering their overall well-being. Despite their significance, little is known about the roles of social networks in promoting health behaviors of NKRs. Thus, we examined how social network characteristics were associated with health-promoting behaviors among 202 NKRs. We found that social networks featuring members of religious organizations were positively associated with overall health-promoting behaviors, health responsibility, exercise, and nutrition, whereas networks with South Korean friends were negatively associated with nutrition. Findings suggest that health interventions facilitating religion-based network ties may promote health behaviors among NKRs.

KEYWORDS:

• Health-promoting behaviors
• North Korean refugees
• social networks
• social support
• South Korea

Compliance with ethical standards

All procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional human research ethics committee (Seoul National University; 1009/001-003) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Declaration of interest statement

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Data availability

Data of this study are available on request to the authors.