Health-risk behaviors among high-school students in southern Thailand.

OBJECTIVE

Determine the prevalence of health-risk behaviors among high-school students in southern Thailand.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

A sample of 11,135 students from grade seven, nine, and eleven, and the second year students at vocational schools in southern Thailand were surveyed in 2005 using a self-completed questionnaire.

RESULTS

There was a high prevalence (more than 70%) of traffic problems. The authors found that 7.6% of the students carried a weapon and 14.0% used physical violence. Diet pills were taken without doctor's advice by 2.3% of respondents. Relating to sexual practices, 7.0% of all students admitted to having had sexual intercourse. Among these students, 13.7% reported that neither party had used birth control during this encounter and 13.9% had been pregnant or made someone pregnant. Thirteen point four percent had felt depressed and 4.6% had attempted suicide during the last year. The prevalence of lifetime compared with past 30 day use, respectively, was 16.1% and 8.2% for smoking, 27.7% and 15.5% for drinking alcohol, and 6.9% and 3.8% for using at least one illicit substance. A higher prevalence of risk behaviors were found among the second year students at vocational schools.

CONCLUSION

The present findings suggest that High School Administrators should pay greater attention to health-risk behavior especially for vocational school students, when considering health promotion programs in their schools.