Objective: The study was aimed to assess risky behavioral factors in the sample of Slovak adolescents.
Background: Health-risk behavior contributes to the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among youth and adults.
Materials and methods: The Youth and Parents Risk Factor Behavior Survey (YABS), based on bilateral US-Slovak project, is an ongoing cross-sectional school-based survey initiated in Bratislava as a model region. There were 798 questionnaires for students distributed; the response rate was 64 %. The sample involved 525 adolescents aged 15‒19 years from eight selected secondary schools in Bratislava, 38 % boys and 62 % girls. More than 90 % of fathers and mothers were employed, but some families nevertheless experienced a lack of finances (48.1 %), almost 70 % of students were from complete families.
Results: The study revealed a very high prevalence of risky behavioral characteristics in this pilot sample of adolescents significantly related to age, gender, type of school, completeness of the family and lower parental education. CONCLUSION: The most important health risk behaviors were identified (tobacco, alcohol, drug consumption, violence, risky sexual behavior, inadequate sleep, physical inactivity, and excessive IT devices use). Targeted intervention proposals will be suggested in future (Tab. 5, Ref. 42).
Keywords: adolescents; risk factors behavioral characteristics.; school-based survey.