Health Behaviors among Korean Adolescents: A Content Analysis

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is the starting period for health behaviors that will affect their lives throughout adulthood. Unhealthy behaviors in Korean adolescents have increased compared to previous generations. To promote health behaviors in this group, a comprehensive measurement of Korean adolescents' health behaviors is necessary. Most previous studies have used revised instruments, which were developed in other cultures, but not tools developed to measure health behaviors based on the perspectives of Korean adolescents. Identifying the perception of health behavior among Korean adolescents is important for the future of health promotion. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate Korean adolescents' perceptions of their health behaviors. METHODS: A qualitative study was conducted to attain a condensed and broad description of the health behaviors that adolescents perceived as health-promoting behaviors or risk behaviors. From October to December 2008, 61 Korean middle and high school students were interviewed on their perceptions of health behaviors. Data were analyzed using inductive qualitative content analysis. RESULTS: Korean adolescents reported health behaviors related to stress, mental health, sleep habits, dietary habits, weight control, physical activity, hygiene habits, safety, computer use, substance use, health screening and others. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide socio-cultural characteristics about the perception of health behaviors among Korean adolescents and should contribute to guiding assessment of health behaviors in Korean adolescents and provide a reference for developing valuable health-promoting interventions based on these characteristics.