Prevalence of High Risk Behaviors Among High School Students of Qom in 2016

Adolescence is a critical period of life characterized by changes and rapid growth, Behavioral changes in this period are effective on person's health. The aim of study was to estimate the prevalence of health risk behaviors among high school students of Qom. This research is descriptive-cross sectional. the sample consisted of 800 high school students in Qom (400 girls and 400 boys) that were selected by randomly multistage sampling.The research instrument was a demographic questionnaire and a standard questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics by SPSS24 software. Findings showed that use of hookah was the most popular in girls and boys (59%) as compared with cigarette smoking (54.13%), drug use (33%), and alcohol consumption (44.25%). The prevalence of physical violence in and outside the school in one year, carrying weapons to school in a month, cigarette smoking in the school in one month, smoking hookah, and alcohol and opioid use during one month were more frequently observed in boys than girls. The use of the seat belt was more common among girls than boys, and the total prevalence of using the seat belt was very low( 4.1 %). Due to high incidence of High Risk Behaviors in high school students, there is a need for strategic plans and scientific interventions in this age group Which are the future makers of country.