Value attitudes of high school students to health: analysis of the survey results

Abstract

This article analyses the results of a survey of 247 high school students regarding their value attitude to health, namely the indicators of the emotional-value criterion. For this purpose, the author's questionnaire was used, which consists of five thematic questions that allow assessing the cognitive, emotional-value and behavioural-activity criteria of the value attitude to health. To analyse the answers to each question, the respondents were grouped into four groups using cluster analysis. In the selected groups of high school students, certain differences were found in the priority of personal values and their importance for achieving life success. However, the correlation analysis of the links between the respondents' choice of health as a personal value and one important for achieving life success did not reveal any significant relationship with behavioural manifestations of maintaining or preserving their own health. The analysis of the results of the study of high school students' attitudes to health through the prism of personal values and achieving life success suggests that students give significant preference to health values, but their lifestyle and behaviour remain far from maintaining or preserving their own health. Therefore, given the importance of education in shaping health values, it is necessary to increase the activity of teaching staff in developing physical activity programmes, motivating high school students' involvement in group or individual health activities, and introducing innovative technologies for shaping students' healthy lifestyles in blended learning. Effective tools include support by educational institutions for social initiatives and projects to preserve or restore health.