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Perceived health status in a Turkish adolescent sample: risk and protective factors

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate health status of Turkish adolescents and to determine the factors affecting their self perceptions of health. The subjects of the study were 4,153 grade 9–11 students from 26 randomly selected high schools in Istanbul. In total, 78% (n=3231) and 62% (n=2537) of the students reported that they were feeling healthy and happy, respectively. Prevalence of headache, abdominal pain and backache; feeling low, irritable, nervous and dizzy; medication use for headache, abdominal pain and nervousness were higher in females than in males (P<0.05 for each comparison). Prevalence of difficulty in getting to sleep and medication use for it were quite similar in both genders. Perceived higher socio-economic status, feeling happy and exercising longer than 2–3 h a week were found as protective factors related to feeling healthy for both genders. In females, ease of talking to mother and perceived adequate parental support on school matters and in males, ease of talking to father and satisfaction with body size were protective factors related to feeling healthy, respectively. Cigarette smoking and having headaches put feeling healthy at risk in both genders. In females, feeling left out of things, having backache and dizziness and medication use for nervousness and in males, feeling pressured by school work, abdominal pain and difficulty in getting to sleep were risk factors related to feeling healthy, respectively. Conclusion: the findings of this study suggest that a significant number of Turkish adolescents perceive themselves as not very healthy and experience psychosomatic symptoms. Perception of health differed to some extent according to gender. Programmes promoting health-related activities and coping strategies with parental participation need to be developed for improving health in high school students.

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Acknowledgements

This research was partly supported by grants from Erkim Ilac Sn AS. and Novo Nordisk Saglik Urunleri Tic. Ltd. Sti. The cooperation of all students and their teachers made this study possible. We wish to express our thanks to Okan Akin and other medical students and nurses for their assistance in the data collection procedure. We also wish to express our thanks to Prof. Pierre-Andre Michaud for reviewing an earlier draft of this article.

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Author notes

  1. Oya Ercan

    Present address: , Ihsaniye mah. Tosun Pasa sok. Hafiz Ibrahim, Apt. B Blok No=15 D=18, 81170 , Uskudar, Istanbul, Turkey

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Ethem Erginoz

  2. Department of Paediatrics, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Mujgan Alikasifoglu, Oya Ercan, Gokmen Ercan & Ozdemir Ilter

  3. Department of Biostatistics, Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Omer Uysal

  4. Department of Educational Science, Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Deniz Albayrak Kaymak

Authors
  1. Ethem Erginoz
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  2. Mujgan Alikasifoglu
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  3. Oya Ercan
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  4. Omer Uysal
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Oya Ercan.

Appendix

Appendix

Questions used in the analyses and break-down for the logistic regression analyses (Tables 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25).

Table 6 In your opinion: what does your class teacher think about your school performance compared to your classmates? (Score: 1+2=1; 3+4=0)
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Table 7 How often do you smoke tobacco at present? (Score: 1=1; 2+3+4=0)
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Table 8 At present, how often do you drink anything alcoholic such as beer, wine or spirits like (add appropriate examples)? Try to include even those times when you only drink a small amount. Please tick one box for each line. (Score: 1+2=1; 3+4+5=0)
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Table 9 Have you ever had so much alcohol that you were really drunk? (Score:1=0; 2+3+4+5=1)
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Table 10 Outside school hours: how many hours a week do you usually exercise in your free time so much that you get out of breath or sweat? (Score:1+2+3+4=0; 5+6=1)
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Table 11 How healthy do you think you are? (Score: 1+2=1; 3=0)
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Table 12 In general, how do you feel about your life at present? (Score: 1+2=1; 3+4=0)
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Table 13 Do you ever feel lonely? (Score: 1+2+3=1; 4=0)
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Table 14 In the last 6 months: how often have you had the following? (please tick one box for each line). (Score: 1+2+3=1; 4+5=0)
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Table 15 During the last month have you taken any medicine or tablets for the following? (please tick one box for each line). (Score: 1+2=0; 3=1)
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Table 16 How easy is it for you to talk to the following persons about things that really bother you? (Please tick one box for each line). (Score: 1+2=1; 3+4+5=0)
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Table 17 Do you consider your body is? (Score: 1+2+4+5=0; 3=1; 6= deleted)
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Table 18 How often do you feel? (please tick one box for each line). (Score: 1+2=1; 3+4+5=0)
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Table 19 How pressured do you feel by the schoolwork you have to do? (Score: 1+2=0; 3+4=1)
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Table 20 How well-off do you think your family is? (Score: 1+2=1; 3+4+5=0)
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Table 21 Please read these statements about your school carefully. For each statement tick one box (School Image Scale)
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Table 22 Please tick one box for each of the statements about your teachers (Support from Teacher Scale). If you have only one teacher, think of this person when you answer the questions
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Table 23 Please tick one box for each statement about the students in your class(es) (Student Support Scale)
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Table 24 Please tick one box for each statement about your parents. If your mother and father live in different places, answer for the home where you live most of time (Parental Support on School Matter Scale)
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Table 25 Please tick one box for each of these statements (Score: 1+2=1; 3+4+5=0)
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Erginoz, E., Alikasifoglu, M., Ercan, O. et al. Perceived health status in a Turkish adolescent sample: risk and protective factors. Eur J Pediatr 163, 485–494 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-004-1446-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-004-1446-5

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