HEALTH BEHAVIOR AND LEVEL OF STRESS AMONG ADOLESCENT BOYS
(Published in journal.sochni 2014)
ABSTRACT
Introduction: The concept of adolescent health is getting importance ahead globally, thus far there is a paucity of national studies to assess the health behaviour and stress level among adolescent boys.
Objectives: This study was aimed to assess the health behaviour and stress level among adolescent boys in Vellore city, Tamil Nadu.
Methodology: Descriptive design was used. Using proportionate and purposive sampling technique, 380 subjects studying in 8th, 9th, 10th 11th and 12th grades were selected from the 10 selected schools in Vellore city. The investigator utilized the WHO questionnaire for assessing Health Behaviour and the adolescent stress questionnaire which is developed by the researcher. The content validity of the Adolescent Stress Questionnaire tool was 0.93, reliability was 0.97 and Factor analysis KMO and Bartlett's Test 0.82 (P<0.01) which is highly reliable for using the instrument in Indian context (Adolescent Stress Questionnaire 2014).
Results: The adolescent boys were categorized into 10-13, 14-16 and 17-19 years with the distribution of 29.73%, 42.63% and 27.64% respectively. The mean age of the subjects was 14.49±1.46. It was uncovered that 4.7% of the subjects had smoked in their life time and 0.3% of them were currently smokers. Those who have consumed alcohol, majority 17.1% were from upper socio economic families (P=0.05). Among those who had higher level of stress in regard to family relations, majority of them (54.5%) consumed alcohol (P=0.04). Regarding the safety behaviour, the subjects from upper socioeconomic status (76.3%) were not practising safety behaviour on the roads as compared to the subjects from lower socio economic status (P=0.002).
Conclusion: The findings suggest an urgent call for implementing the life skill education programme in schools to develop and nurture the adaptive health behaviour among adolescent boys and to cope with stress, which paves the way for moulding a healthier workforce in coming days.
Key words: Health behaviour, stress, smoking, alcoholism, physical activity and adolescent boys.
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