What is the status quo of high-risk behaviors among male adolescents in the South of Iran?: A cross-sectional study in Bandar Bushehr, Iran

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescents are the most vulnerable population in society to high-risk behaviors. It is essential to explore male adolescents’ state of health so as to establish this health well. The present research aimed to explore the prevalence of high-risk behaviors among male adolescents in the south of Iran. Methods: The present cross-sectional research employed a random multi-stratified sampling method to select subjects from male students of secondary schools (2^nd grade) in Bushehr in 2017. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire comprised of two parts. The first part explored background information and the second monitored adolescents’ high-risk behaviors. Once the reliability and validity of the questionnaire were confirmed, the collected data were analyzed in SPSS20 using ANOVA test and Tukey post-hoc test. Results: The majority of subjects belonged to the 16 year-old age group. The highest frequency of high-risk behaviors in male adolescents involved physical contact and struggle out of school (22.81%), hookah consumption within a month (19.62%), physical contact and struggle at school within a year (18.30%) and smoking cigarettes out of school in a month (11.14%). Conclusion: The prevalence of high-risk behaviors among male adolescents was for physical contact out of school in a year, hookah consumption in a month and physical contact at school in a year. It is suggested to conduct qualitative research to recognize why adolescents show tendency to risky behaviors and to reduce such behaviors.