Korean adolescents' health risk behaviors and their relationships with the selected psychological constructs

Purpose: To explore the negative health behaviors of Korean adolescents, reveal factors affecting their negative health behavior, and present a substantial correlation model between the negative health behaviors and psychological factors. Methods: A total of 2124 adolescents randomly selected from junior high and high schools in Seoul were surveyed. Four Korean-version instruments were used to identify the negative health behavior and psychological construct of adolescents: Adolescent Health Survey, Health Locus of Control scale, Self-Esteem scale, and Self-Efficacy scale. Results: Korean adolescents showed high prevalence of smoking, drinking alcohol, bad eating habits, and viewing pornography; and very low prevalence, however, of sexual intercourse and illegal drug use. In addition to this, the findings revealed that the subdomains in adolescents' negative health behavior were statistically correlated with the subdimensions of a psychological factor. A correlation model was an adequate fit to identify a possible relationship between the negative health behaviors and the psychological factors. Conclusions: This study provides significant and new information about the relatively unstudied Korean adolescents and has the potential to influence the development of better health education and health psychology. (C) Society for Adolescent Medicine, 2001.