Abstract
BackgroundStudying adolescents’ health risk behaviours is oddly significant in Central and Eastern European countries, where the prevalence of smoking and drinking among 14–18 year old students is significantly high. The goal of our study is to examine the role of social psychological and social behavioural variables in health risk behaviours among Hungarian adolescents.MethodsOur sample was comprised of three high schools of Debrecen (the second largest city of Hungary). In all, 501 students filled in the questionnaire from 22 classes (14–22 years old). Students aged above 18 years were excluded for the purpose of the study, giving a total sample size of 471 high school students. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression analyses were conducted.ResultsAccording to our results (1) social behavioural factors (namely, smoking and alcohol use of the best friend and peer group) proved to be better predictors of adolescents’ health risk behaviours as compared to the included social psychological attributes (2); among the latter ones, loneliness and shyness were negatively related with both smoking and drinking, while competitiveness was a predictor of drinking prevalence among boys.ConclusionsThe findings suggest that social behavioural factors, including smoking and drinking of friends, are oddly important predictors of Hungarian adolescents’ health risk behaviours. According to our results, health policy should pay more attention to peer norms related to smoking and drinking during school health promotion. Developing health protective social norms may be an indispensable component of effective health promotion in high schools.
Highlights
Studying adolescents’ health risk behaviours is oddly significant in Central and Eastern European countries, where the prevalence of smoking and drinking among 14–18 year old students is significantly high
Our study focused on the correlations between social psychological and social behavioural variables and health risk behaviours in a sample of Hungarian adolescents
Both smoking and drinking of the best friend and peer group increased the odds of health risk behaviours in both genders
Summary
Studying adolescents’ health risk behaviours is oddly significant in Central and Eastern European countries, where the prevalence of smoking and drinking among 14–18 year old students is significantly high. Studying adolescents’ health risk behaviours, including alcohol use and smoking habits, is oddly significant in Central and Eastern European Countries. Loneliness, shyness, competitiveness and need to belong can potentially be contributors to youth health risk behaviours, according to Hungarian data [2, 3]. The relationship between social psychological aspects of personality and health risk behaviours was highly established Type-A personality is correlated with higher risk of both alcohol use and smoking. A Hungarian study reported significantly higher level of health risk behaviours among adolescents with competitive attitudes [3]
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