Prevalence of health-risk behaviors among teen girls in Southeastern Iran

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.