Prevalence, attitude, and factors associated with risky health habits and behavior of secondary school students, Almajardah, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Adolescents make up to 20% of the world's population. However, they have traditionally been neglected as a distict target group and subsumed under the proportion of family, women, and child's welfare and health. Objective: To study the prevalence of and attitude toward selected health-risk behaviors (smoking, alcoholism, substance abuse, and violence) and their possible associated risk factors among secondary school students, Almajardah, KSA. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study among male Saudi adolescents enrolled in secondary schools at Almajardah city during the scholastic years 1434-1435. Data were collected using an Arabic-validated self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was based on State and Local Youth Risk Behavior survey and Global School-based Student Health survey. Result: The study included 442 male secondary school students. Their age ranged between 16 and 22 years with a mean of 17.8 and standard deviation of 1.1 years. More than one-third of the studied students (36.9%) reported at least one history of quarrel (violence) during the last year, and 8.4% of them required medical and/or hospital care as a result of quarreling. Thirty-seven students (8.4%) carried an arm at school during the last month. Smoking was reported by 22.6% of the studied students. Almost one-sixth (16.5%) of the students used to drink alcohol, and 4.1% of them reported having done it all the days of the last month. About one-sixth (16.7%) of the students were taking addictive substances. The substances used were mostly hashish and sedatives (59.5% and 40.5%, respectively). Student's academic achievement was negatively predicted by all of the studied risky practices. Students' age and their paternal education and/or job were among the important predictors for practicing risky behaviors. Conclusion: Secondary school male students in Almajardah, KSA, have a number of risky behaviors. The most important one is violence. Although alcohol drinking, smoking, and use of addictive substances are less, they constitute a major concern. Almost 38% of the studied students did not practice any risky behavior. Safety practices are lacking, and the rates of exposure to accidents or injuries are high.

Alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking: a health-risk behaviour among secondary school learners in South Africa

“…Several studies revealed that the reason behind the risk behaviours among youths in most countries is that they are undergoing a developmental transition in a rapidly changing social, economic, political and emotional climate 9 , 10 , 12 . Therefore, this volatile environment in which the society is to survive can be a breeding ground for the development of a very complex set of health-risk behaviours that may be intertwined with one another.…”

“…Furthermore, Al Mojamad 11 reiterates that adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and psychological human development occurring during the period from puberty to legal adulthood and while significant development occurs during the teen years, full maturity is by no means complete. Decision-making and future-oriented thinking are not fully developed and for these various reasons, the teen years can be a stressful and fragile time, making adolescents more susceptible to engaging in risky behaviours and be unable to weigh their risks and benefits 12 .…”