Factors Related to Parental Involvement in the Prevention of Health Risk Behaviors among Adolescents: A Cross-sectional Study in East Java Indonesia

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Adolescent development is a period of searching for self-identity including behavioral changes. Parental involvement is needed to prevent health risk behavior in adolescents. AIM: The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors associated with parental involvement in the prevention of risky behavior in adolescents. METHODS: The research design used cross-sectional through online distribution (Zoho form). The population in this study were parents who had adolescents attending senior high school in East Java. Based on consecutive sampling for a period of three months, 704 samples were obtained. The independent variables include demographic data (education of father and mother, gender of the child, number of children, means of transportation, type of child’s education, and knowledge), while the dependent variable in this study was parental involvement. Data analysis used the Spearman rank correlation with a significance level of α = 0.05. RESULTS: The results showed that there was a significant relationship between the number of children (p = 0.033), means of transportation (p = 0.000), and parental knowledge (p = 0.04), while the results of other factors were the father’s education (p = 0.92), the mother’s education (p = 0.35), gender of the child (p=0.64), and the type of education of the child (p = 0.66). CONCLUSION: Parental involvement in preventing health-risk behavior in adolescents can be increased through controlling the number of children, means of transportation used by children, and parents’ knowledge about the importance of preventing health-risk behaviors in adolescents.