Relationship between Family Type and Health Behaviors in Korean Adolescent: Based on the 17th Youth Health Behavior Survey

Abstract

Objectives: This study was performed to identify the relationship between family type and health behaviors in Korean adolescents.Methods: The study included 41,551 students who participated in the 17th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Chi-square tests and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to compare health behaviors such as smoking, drinking, sexual experience, excessive smartphone use and physical activities by family type which were classified as general and broken families.Results: In this study, 85.7% of adolescents’ families were general families and 14.3% were broken families. According to multiple logistic regression analysis, the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for health behaviors among adolescents from broken families compared to adolescents from general families were 1.38 (1.21-1.58) for lifetime smoking, 1.53 (1.27-1.83) for current smoking, 1.46 (1.33-1.61) for lifetime drinking, 1.46 (1.29-1.66) for current drinking, sexual experience 1.65 (1.38-1.98), and excessive smartphone use on weekdays and weekends 1.39 (1.26-1.54) and 1.44 (1.30-1.58), respectively.Conclusions: Adolescents from broken families often have undesirable health behaviors, and are more likely to be exposed to high-risk groups than adolescents from general families. Depending on the type of family, the main caregiver’s active intervention through guidance and encouragement for the healthy behaviors is required, and it is necessary to prepare the direct psychological and behavioral support through the development of supporting programs in the community and continuous counseling program, which may play an alternative role of main caregiver.