title: Characteristics of health-promoting schools from Iranian adolescents' point of view.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Although characteristics of health-promoting schools are mentioned in the World Health Organization guidelines, different countries need to design more details of indicators for assessing these schools according to their social and cultural context. The aim of this study was to investigate characteristics of health-promoting schools from Iranian adolescent girls' point of view.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, 2010 middle school and high school female adolescents were selected from randomly selected schools in Mazandaran province, Iran. They completed a self-completion questionnaire around their views about characteristics of health- promoting schools. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and an independent t-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It is revealed that from Iranian adolescents' point of view the most important feature of health-promoting schools was the schools with no stressful exams and where notices are kindly given to students for their mistakes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that there is a need for more measurable standards of health-promoting schools based on the socio-cultural context of both developing and developed countries.
authors.forename: Zohreh
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shahhosseini
authors.forename: Masoumeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simbar
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ramezankhani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012572:School Health Services; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires