[Assessment of usefulness of visual analogue scale (VAS) for measuring adolescent attitude toward unhealthy behaviors].

In the last two decades the visual analogue scale has been more frequently used for measuring the psychosocial determinants of health, its disorders and unhealthy behaviours. In 1999 in Health Promotion Department of the National Institute of Hygiene multidimensional investigations on self-assessment of health and life style of adolescents were undertaken and evaluation of visual analogue scale usefulness for health promotion research was one of the aims of these investigations. The data were obtained from randomly selected sample of 682 schoolchildren aged 14-15 years attending to public and private schools of Warsaw. The questionnaire contained the questions about frequency of alcohol drinking, cigarette smoking, drug using and manifestation of aggression. Simultaneously, respondents were asked, how much these behaviours are usefully for coping with everyday events. The answers of usefulness of unhealthy behaviours were measured on tenth centimetre line from "not at all" to "completely". The study shows that adolescents who presented unhealthy behaviours more often are more likely to give higher value to these behaviours in coping with their problems. Moreover, adolescents' attitude toward unhealthy behaviours varies according to gender, kind of alcohol, frequency of being drunk, proposals to buy the drugs, carrying the weapon and frequency of injures from violence. The analyses confirm the usefulness of visual analogue scale for study on psychosocial and life style determinants of health.