Skip Navigation Links.
Collapse <span class="m110 colortj mt20 fontw700">Volume 12 (2024)</span>Volume 12 (2024)
Collapse <span class="m110 colortj mt20 fontw700">Volume 11 (2023)</span>Volume 11 (2023)
Collapse <span class="m110 colortj mt20 fontw700">Volume 10 (2022)</span>Volume 10 (2022)
Collapse <span class="m110 colortj mt20 fontw700">Volume 9 (2021)</span>Volume 9 (2021)
Collapse <span class="m110 colortj mt20 fontw700">Volume 8 (2020)</span>Volume 8 (2020)
Collapse <span class="m110 colortj mt20 fontw700">Volume 7 (2019)</span>Volume 7 (2019)
Collapse <span class="m110 colortj mt20 fontw700">Volume 6 (2018)</span>Volume 6 (2018)
Collapse <span class="m110 colortj mt20 fontw700">Volume 5 (2017)</span>Volume 5 (2017)
Collapse <span class="m110 colortj mt20 fontw700">Volume 4 (2016)</span>Volume 4 (2016)
Collapse <span class="m110 colortj mt20 fontw700">Volume 3 (2015)</span>Volume 3 (2015)
Collapse <span class="m110 colortj mt20 fontw700">Volume 2 (2014)</span>Volume 2 (2014)
Collapse <span class="m110 colortj mt20 fontw700">Volume 1 (2013)</span>Volume 1 (2013)
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2015, 3(6), 229-234
DOI: 10.12691/AJPHR-3-6-5
Original Research

Behaviors and Subjective Health of the Egyptian Adolescent School Children

Azza Ali Taha1, and Hala Marawan Mohammed1

1Public Health Department, Menoufia University, Egypt

Pub. Date: December 29, 2015

Cite this paper

Azza Ali Taha and Hala Marawan Mohammed. Behaviors and Subjective Health of the Egyptian Adolescent School Children. American Journal of Public Health Research. 2015; 3(6):229-234. doi: 10.12691/AJPHR-3-6-5

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There are many concerns nowadays about many issues in adolescent health behavior. This study was conducted to assess the prevalence of dietary habits, physical activity and sedentary behaviors among Egyptian adolescents and to assess how they perceive their physical and emotional health. METHODS: The study was cross sectional and was conducted from December 2014 to July 2015 in Menoufia governorate in Egypt. Number of adolescents participating in the study was 329. Their BMI percentile was calculated using a percentile online calculator. A questionnaire about health behaviors of the students and their perception of health was distributed. RESULTS: The prevalence of overweight and obesity among students was 18.8% and 10% respectively. Bad dietary and sedentary behaviors were common among them. Poor perception of health and negative feelings were also common. CONCLUSIONS: national surveys and health promotion programs are urgently needed to focus on health behaviors of the Egyptian adolescent children.

Keywords

child and adolescent health, nutrition and diet, school health services

Copyright

Creative CommonsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References

[1]  Alsubaie ASR. Full Length Review Article. 2014.
 
[2]  Qidwai W, Ishaque S, Shah S, Rahim M. Adolescent lifestyle and behaviour: A survey from a developing country. PloS one. 2010; 5(9): e12914.
 
[3]  Eagle TF, Gurm R, Goldberg CS, et al. Health status and behavior among middle-school children in a midwest community: What are the underpinnings of childhood obesity? American heart journal. 2010; 160(6):1185-1189.
 
[4]  Liese AD, Bortsov A, Günther AL, et al. Association of DASH Diet With Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Youth With Diabetes Mellitus The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study. Circulation. 2011; 123(13):1410-1417.
 
[5]  Zaborskis A, Lagunaite R, Busha R, Lubiene J. Trend in eating habits among Lithuanian school-aged children in context of social inequality: three cross-sectional surveys 2002, 2006 and 2010. BMC Public health. 2012;12(1):52.
 
[6]  OECD. Health at a Glance: Europe 2012. OECD Publishing; 2012.
 
[7]  Landry BW, Driscoll SW. Physical activity in children and adolescents. PM&R. 2012;4(11):826-832.
 
[8]  Control CfD, Prevention. About BMI for children and teens. 2011. Updated June 2Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/childrens_bmi/about_childrens_bmi. html. 2011.
 
[9]  Control CfD. BMI percentile calculator for child and teen. 2008.
 
[10]  Currie C. Health behaviour in school-aged children: research protocol for the 1997-98 survey. A World Health Organization Cross-National Study. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh. 1998.
 
[11]  Roberts C, Currie C, Samdal O, Currie D, Smith R, Maes L. Measuring the health and health behaviours of adolescents through cross-national survey research: recent developments in the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study. Journal of Public Health. 2007;15(3):179-186.
 
[12]  Currie C. Inequalities in young people's health: HBSC international report from the 2005/2006 Survey. World Health Organization; 2008.
 
[13]  Organization WH. Regional Office for Europe (2006). Food and nutrition policy for schools A tool for the development of school nutrition programmes in the European Region Programme for Nutrition and Food Security. Copenhagen. 2005.
 
[14]  Lazzeri G, Pammolli A, Azzolini E, et al. Association between fruits and vegetables intake and frequency of breakfast and snacks consumption: a cross-sectional study. Nutr J. 2013;12(1):123.
 
[15]  Pienaar AE, Kruger G. Prevalence of overweight and obesity in grade 1 learners in the North West Province of South Africa: The NW-CHILD Study. South African Journal of Sports Medicine. 2014;26(4):109-114.
 
[16]  Al-Hazzaa HM, Abahussain NA, Al-Sobayel HI, Qahwaji DM, Musaiger AO. Physical activity, sedentary behaviors and dietary habits among Saudi adolescents relative to age, gender and region. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2011;8(1):140.
 
[17]  Shokrvash B, Majlessi F, Montazeri A, et al. Fruit and vegetables consumption among adolescents: A study from a developing country. App. Sci. J. 2013; 21:1502-1511.
 
[18]  Vereecken C, Pedersen TP, Ojala K, et al. Fruit and vegetable consumption trends among adolescents from 2002 to 2010 in 33 countries. The European Journal of Public Health. 2015;25(suppl 2):16-19.
 
[19]  Organization WH. School policy framework: implementation of the WHO global strategy on diet, physical activity and health. 2008.
 
[20]  Manz K, Schlack R, Poethko-Muller C, Mensink G, Finger J, Lampert T. [Physical activity and electronic media use in children and adolescents: results of the KiGGS study: first follow-up (KiGGS wave 1)]. Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz. Jul 2014;57(7):840-848.
 
[21]  Rideout VJ, Foehr UG, Roberts DF. Generation M [superscript 2]: Media in the Lives of 8-to 18-Year-Olds. Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. 2010.
 
[22]  Gentile D. Can spending too much time playing video games hurt my child.
 
[23]  Strasburger VC, Hogan MJ, Mulligan DA, et al. Children, adolescents, and the media. Pediatrics. 2013;132(5):958-961.
 
[24]  Houghton S, Hunter SC, Rosenberg M, et al. Virtually impossible: limiting Australian children and adolescents daily screen based media use. BMC public health. 2015;15(1):5.
 
[25]  Patriarca A, Di Giuseppe G, Albano L, Marinelli P, Angelillo IF. Use of television, videogames, and computer among children and adolescents in Italy. BMC Public Health. 2009;9(1):139.
 
[26]  Salazar-Martinez E, Allen B, Fernandez-Ortega C, Torres-Mejia G, Galal O, Lazcano-Ponce E. Overweight and obesity status among adolescents from Mexico and Egypt. Archives of medical research. May 2006;37(4):535-542.
 
[27]  El-Gilany A-H, El-Masry R. Overweight and obesity among adolescent school students in Mansoura, Egypt. Childhood Obesity (Formerly Obesity and Weight Management). 2011;7(3):215-222.
 
[28]  Cavallo F, Dalmasso P, Ottová-Jordan V, et al. Trends in self-rated health in European and North-American adolescents from 2002 to 2010 in 32 countries. The European Journal of Public Health. 2015;25(suppl 2):13-15.
 
[29]  Ravens-Sieberer U, Torsheim T, Hetland J, et al. Subjective health, symptom load and quality of life of children and adolescents in Europe. International Journal of Public Health. 2009;54(2):151-159.
 
[30]  Levin K, van der Sluijs W, Todd J, Currie C. HBSC Briefing Paper 15. 2009.
 
[31]  Shapiro M. Stressed-out teens, with school a main cause. The Washington Post. 2014.
 
[32]  Avenevoli S, Swendsen J, He J-P, Burstein M, Merikangas KR. Major Depression in the National Comorbidity Survey–Adolescent Supplement: Prevalence, Correlates, and Treatment. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 2015;54(1):37-44. e32.
 
[33]  Mwaka ES, Munabi IG, Buwembo W, Kukkiriza J, Ochieng J. Musculoskeletal pain and school bag use: a cross-sectional study among Ugandan pupils. BMC research notes. 2014;7(1):222.
 
[34]  Skaggs DL, Early SD, D'Ambra P, Tolo VT, Kay RM. Back pain and backpacks in school children. Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics. 2006;26(3):358-363.
 
[35]  Iyer MSR. An ergonomic study of chronic musculoskeletal pain in schoolchildren. The Indian Journal of Pediatrics. 2001; 68(10):937-941.
 
[36]  Bradshaw J, Martorano B, Natali L, de Neubourg C. Children’s subjective well-being in rich countries. Child Indicators Research. 2013; 6(4):619-635.
 
[37]  Sacks DW, Stevenson B, Wolfers J. Subjective well-being, income, economic development and growth. National Bureau of Economic Research; 2010.
 
[38]  Overpeck MD. US teens in our world: understanding the health of US youth in comparison to youth in other countries. US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau; 2003.
 
[39]  Sarkova M, Bacikova-Sleskova M, Madarasova Geckova A, Katreniakova Z, van den Heuvel W, van Dijk JP. Adolescents’ psychological well-being and self-esteem in the context of relationships at school. Educational Research. 2014;56(4):367-378.