Do Senior High School Students Have Health-Promoting Lifestyles?

Abstract

Adolescence is an important time to acquire a health-promoting lifestyle so that it can be maintained in adulthood. This is a descriptive and correlational study. The aim of the study is to analyze the health-promoting lifestyles of senior high school stu dents and the factors that aff ect this lifestyle. The study sample included 160 high school students. It was conducted in the spring semester of the 2011 academic year. The study data was collected using an information form and the Health-promoting Lifestyle Scale 2. The study found that the senior high school students had a moderately health-promoting lifestyle. They obtained low scores on the physical activity and health responsibility subdimensions of the scale. The female students had better health responsibility, nutrition and interpersonal relationships than the male students, while the male students were better in physical activities than the female students. The study also found that the students who lived in city, came from a high-income family and had health professionals in their immediate environment had more health-promoting lifestyles. According to the study results, the senior high school students did not have suff iciently health-promoting lifestyles. This indicates that training programs addressed to senior high school students should be planned and implemented.