Prevalence of High Risk Behaviors in High School Students of Qom, 2016

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescence is a critical period of life characterized by changes and rapid growth, Behavioral changes in this period are effective on personchr('39')s health. The aim of study was to estimate the prevalence of health risk behaviors among high school students of Qom. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 800 high school students in Qom (400 girls and 400 boys) that were selected by randomly multistage sampling. The research instrument was a standard questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Independent-Sample T Test, Chi-squared test and descriptive statistics by SPSS 16 software. Results: The prevalence of high-risk behaviors in the studied population in all three areas was 450 (56.25%). The prevalence of physical contact at school and outside school during a year; carrying a sharp weapon to school during a month; smoking in school during a month; and hookah smoking, use of alcohol and drug during a month had statistically significant difference in both sex (P Conclusion: Due to high prevalence of High Risk Behaviors in high school students, there is a need for strategic plans and scientific interventions in this age group which are the future makers of country.

Keywords

• high risk behaviors
• adolescence
• high school
• qom