Health Behaviour of Adolescents

A Study on High School Students

Abstract

Adolescence is the most crucial stage of human life, and puberty is its beginning. Adolescents during puberty go through several biological and socio-psychological changes. They encounter various health
hazards, risks, and, sometimes, suffer from many physical and mental upsets, disarrays, and problems that shape their health behaviors in the future. This paper focuses on the exploration of health behaviors of high-school-going adolescents and how they adapt to changes occurred during adolescence. In order to elicit their health status and health behaviors, a cross-sectional study comprised of a sample of 160 high-school-going boys and girls aged from 12 to 16 years was conducted in four schools under four unions of four districts in Bangladesh. Significant findings show that high-school-going adolescents go
through a series of physical, mental, and emotional changes in adolescence. Many have the knowledge and are aware of these changes and contemporaneous health problems, but some are not and get fears.
While their health behaviors depend on how they perceive their health and whom they share with and receive suggestions. In most cases, girls first inform their mother or sisters or grannies; boys inform their
friends and peer groups but share a little to their parents and seniors in the family. In both cases, they tend to hide their problems and seldom seeks healthcare from qualified healers. This study concludes that measures like health education and knowledge of puberty should exactly be provided to help them grow up smoothly throughout their future life.