Jordanian adolescents’ health behaviour and school climate

Abstract

Aim This study was conducted to assess the occurrence of physical activity, nutritional habits, tooth brushing and seat belt use behaviour among adolescent school students in Jordan, and to examine the effect of psychosocial aspects of school on these behaviours. Method A cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was used to draw a sample of in-school adolescents aged between 11 and 15 years. The final sample included 1166 adolescents from five public and two private schools. Study participants filled in a translated version of the health behaviour in school aged children questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, correlational (point biserial), and bivariate analyses (chi-square tests) were used to analyse the data. Results Among the study sample 34.5% of the adolescents practised exercise outside school hours once a week or less frequently, and only 53.1% of them brushed their teeth more than once a day. Regarding seat belt use, 44.7% of the adolescents used them rarely or never. Concerning carbonated sugary drinks and sweets consumption, about 64% and 83.3% of the adolescents, respectively, consumed them once a day or more often. The percentages of adolescents who never drank low fat or whole fat milk were 43.1% and 38.2%, respectively. Conclusions The study concluded that school adolescents do engage in unhealthy behaviour. Psychosocial aspect of schools were associated with students’ physical activity, nutritional habits, tooth brushing and seat belt use behaviours.

Social Differences in Health Behaviours among Jordanian Adolescents

“…The purpose of this paper was to examine varying health behavioural differences across proxies for social variables among a sample of Jordanian adolescents. Both Arabic and international studies note significant social differences in adolescents’ health behaviours [ 7 , 9 , 10 , 19 , 27 ]. Clearly, more knowledge is needed to better understand these relationships, especially in Arabic countries where only a few studies have investigated multiple health behaviours [ 19 ].…”

“…Both Arabic and international studies note significant social differences in adolescents’ health behaviours [ 7 , 9 , 10 , 19 , 27 ]. Clearly, more knowledge is needed to better understand these relationships, especially in Arabic countries where only a few studies have investigated multiple health behaviours [ 19 ]. Our findings provide preliminary insights into the role of gender, parental education, and family SES in a number of health behaviours among Jordanian adolescents.…”

“…Besides these relationships, oral hygiene and hand washing are relevant health behaviours, particularly in developing countries. Gender [ 19 , 20 ], parental education [ 20 , 21 ], and family SES [ 21 , 22 ] can also contribute to social differences and inequalities. Children from lower-income and lower-educated households usually have poorer oral hygiene [ 23 ].…”

“…Despite a growing number of studies in this area, only a few have examined social differences in health behaviours among Jordanian adolescents. Adolescents at school report insufficient physical activity and low consumption of fruit or vegetables, as well as high consumption of fast foods, carbonated soft drinks, and sweets and inadequate tooth brushing [ 19 ]. Among the few Jordanian studies that have been conducted, Obeisat and Gharaibeh [ 29 ] reported that boys and adolescents with a higher family income were more likely to engage in physical activity [ 29 ].…”

“…Therefore, this study aims to examine the role of a set of social differences (namely, gender, parental education, and family affluence) in students’ health behaviours (such as dietary habits, hygienic behaviour, physical activity, and smoking) among Jordanian adolescents. We chose these measures since (a) these are the most relevant risk factors for adolescents’ future health [ 8 , 19 , 21 , 29 , 30 , 31 ] and (b) these measures are often used in other studies from the Arab world, and thus findings would be useful for comparison purposes and the determination of future directions in health education programmes. We primarily aimed to calculate odds ratios (OR) to determine the odds of these acting as risk factors, which is very practical in public health.…”