Related Factors to Health Promoting Self-Care Behaviors among Adolescents

Health promoting behaviors are formed during adolescence and often remain until adulthood. This study aimed to explore related factors to health promoting self-care behaviors among adolescents. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 among 426 adolescents living in Tabriz. Adolescent Health Promotion (AHP) questionnaire was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients applying SPSS v.16. The mean score of the health promoting behaviors was 69.83. Among six healthpromoting behaviors, physical activity and health responsibility were not in good conditions among the students. Adolescents had a high score in the dimension of life appreciation (80.62). There was a significant difference in self-care score between male and female participants (p≥0.05). There were no significant relationships between self-care with age, family size, and birth rank (p≥0.05). There was a significant difference between father education level and family size with nutritional behaviors of the adolescents (p≥0.05). This study showed that the health responsibility among adolescents was low and their physical activities were not sufficient. These results are a warning to policy-makers to pay attention seriously to promoting school health programs in order to promote self-care behaviors among adolescents.