title: Health behaviors and related demographic factors among Korean adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purposes of this study were to explore health behaviors, examine health behaviors in relation to demographic factors, and investigate the relationships between health risk behaviors (e.g., tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and sexual experience) among Korean adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study used a cross-sectional descriptive relational design and a population-based data collection of 1,716 middle and high school Korean adolescents. The 72-item Korean Adolescent Health Behavior Scale was used for data collection, while descriptive statistics, t test and chi-square test were used in the data analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Females were doing better on weight control, hygiene, safety, and computer use than were males. Males were doing better on physical activity. Adolescents living in cities were more likely to be addicted to computer but were consuming alcohol and using tobacco less than adolescents in rural areas were. In addition, religion, grade level, and living area also made the adolescents' health behavior significantly different.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As the result suggested, gender, religion, grade level, and region need to be considered when designing health promotion interventions among Korean adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Wonju College of Medicine, Yonsei University, South Korea.
authors.forename: YunHee
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Division of Nursing Science, Health Science College, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea. Electronic address: sookjungkang@ewha.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Sook Jung
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012423:Rural Health; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014504:Urban Health; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Korea; adolescent; demography; health behavior; risk-taking