[Education for responsible health behavior]

34 nursery school teachers, 40 primary school teachers, and 40 parents of primary school children were interviewed. Based on the results of these interviews, standardized questionnaires were developed and answered by 100 mothers of primary school children. Main results are as follows. Most of the nursery school teachers, primary school teachers, and mothers don't show great interest in health-related information, despite the fact that they lack knowledge in this area. Health risks which children could be educated to know, like unhealthy nutrition, are underestimated, whereas ecological risks which cannot be affected are overrated. Nursery and primary school teachers hold that parents are responsible for the health education of their children. Consequently, health-related behaviour in kindergarten and health-related teaching in school are unsatisfactory. Mothers, however, expect schools to teach health-related topics concerning dependencies of all sorts--nicotine, alcohol, illegal drugs, and medication. Nursery school teachers as well as mothers demonstrate little systematic control and few sanctions when it comes to teaching children hygienic behaviour. Therefore, most children show satisfactory preventive behaviour only with regard to brushing their teeth. There are clear deficits in other areas. The mothers act only partly as good role models--for example, many mothers smoke when their children are around. Additionally, mothers don't regularly talk to their children about health-related topics.