Lifestyle behavior of secondary school students contributed to health problems in Mosul City

الملخص EN

Objectives : The Study aims to assess lifestyle behaviors of secondary school students through domains of dietary habit, physical activity, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, personal hygiene Methodology: A cross- sectional descriptive study was conducted in Mosul City of academic year from13October 2013 to 31April 2014.

To achieve the objectives of the study, a probability of stratifiedcluster sample of 1656 students (828 males and 828 females) whose age between 15- 18 + years were selected.The schools selected randomly are 24 schools from 76 total schools in Mosul City, 69 students who are randomly selected.

Data are collected through the use of semi-constructed questionnaire, which consists of four parts: first part is socio-demographic data, second part is information about weight, height and blood pressure, third part is information about lifestyle behaviors and fourth part is health problems contributed to lifestyle behavior.

Reliability of the questionnaire is determined through a pilot study and validity through a panel of 20 experts.

Data were described statistically and analyzed through the use of the descriptive and inferential statistical analysis procedures.

Results : The results of the present study demonstrated that there is non-significant relationship between students and family socio-demographic characteristic (age, sex, class level, student's order in the family and family income) while there is significant relationship between students and family socio-demographic characteristics (residence, number of siblings and family type), also high significant relationship was shown between weight with age and sex.

Regarding blood pressure the study found highly significant association of blood pressure with age and sex.

The study shows 33.5% of students have daily skipping breakfast and 33.5 % of students have daily consumption of fruit, 51.7 % of students have daily consumption of vegetable, 39.3 % of students have more than once a week consumption of milk and milk product, 24.2 % of students have consumption more than once a week sugar sweetened beverage and 33.6 % of students have consumption of fast food more than once a week.

Also the study finds that 31.2 % of students play computer and using internet 3-6 hours per day.

Smoking prevalence is 37.7% among male students while both close contacts and parents play significant role in the development of smoking habit among students.

Recommendations : study recommends promoting school health programs, Family and community involvement to help these students live in a healthier life, using mass media which play an important role to identify healthy lifestyles behaviors and establishing national policy between Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education to promote healthier lifestyle behaviors for adolescents