A Cross-Sectional Study to Examine Trends in Risk Behaviors for Adolescents
ABSTRACT
Risky behaviors affect lives of individuals, negatively. Adolescents are an important group in risky behavior. Adolescents’ tendency to risky behaviors can affect them physically, spiritually and socially. In this context, the aim of this research is evaluate adolescents’ tendencies towards risky behaviors with some socio-demographic variables.
The research was conducted with students who educated different types of high school in centre of Konya. That is a cross-sectional and quantitative research. The universe of the research consist of students, educated at 5 different high schools in Konya province (Meram Science High School, Meram Anatolian High School, Selçuklu Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, Fatih Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School and Meram Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School). The convenience sampling method, one of the non-random sampling methods, was used in the study. In this context, it was calculated that 384, people at 95% trust level and 665 people at 99% trust level would be sufficient for the research. 625 students between the ages of 15-18 and studying in 10th and 11th grades were included in the sample. The Risky Behavior Scale was used in the study, the scale’s Cronbach’s Alpha value is 0.917.
59% of students are male and 53.6% are between the ages of 15 and 16. 52.3% consists of 10th grades and 47.7% consists of 11 classrooms and 60% are educated at Vocational and Technical High School. 93.6% of the students’ parents live together. In the study, it is observed that adolescents in the 15-16 age group tend to be less risky than adolescents in the 17-18 age group.In addition, it is observed that male students tend to behave at higher risk than female students and 11th graders tend to behave at higher risk than 10th graders. Vocational and Technical High Schools’students have higher scores for risky behaviors such as antisocial behavior, smoking, alcohol use and tendency to dropout of school, compared to other high schools. Adolescents whose parents are separated have a higher tendency to smoke and drink alcohol.
AUTHOR(s)
Dr. Aysel TEKGÖZ OBUZ
Ramazan KIRAÇ
