Shahraki-Sanavi F, Rakhshani F, Ansari-Moghaddam A, Mohammadi M, Feizabad AK. Prevalence of health-risk behaviors among teen girls in Southeastern Iran.
Electron Physician 2018;
10:6988-6996. [PMID:
30034668 PMCID:
PMC6049972 DOI:
10.19082/6988]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2017] [Accepted: 09/26/2017] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
Investigating female adolescents’ health status is essential because of their two-fold role within the health of the community and the impending generations’ health.
Objective
The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of health-risk behaviors among teen girls in Southeastern Iran.
Methods
This cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 457 tenth grade female adolescents in four public high schools in Zahedan in Southeastern Iran, in 2015. First, high schools were randomly selected; then, all students in Grade 10 were enrolled in the study through a census. Data were collected using a self-reported questionnaire of the health-risk behaviors with the content validity ratio (CVR) of 0.80, the content validity index (CVI) of 0.88 and Cronbach’s α score of 0.71. The Results were analyzed using ANOVA test with SPSS-15.
Results
The highest prevalence rate of health-risk behaviors of students included: failing to drink natural fruit juice (53.1%), failing to wear a seat belt (43.0%), sitting in a car while the driver is sending message or emails (43.0%), failing to drink milk daily (36.0%), lack of minimum daily physical activity 37.0%, and watching TV more than 3 hours a day (35.0%). On average, the number of health-risk behaviors among under study students was 1.47. Additionally, the ANOVA showed a statistically significant difference in the average number of health-risk behaviors of adolescents in families with high economic status, those who never talked with their parents or those who had physical relations with the opposite sex (p<0.001).
Conclusion
It is suggested that attention be paid to emphasizing the pattern of healthy eating, increasing physical activity, and reducing unsafe behaviors in adolescents; moreover, behavioral consultation should be given regarding relationships with the opposite sex. Furthermore, more attention must be paid to the familiar behavior patterns and the relationships in school health programs.
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