Relationship between risky health behaviors and some demographic characteristics of adolescents self-esteem and healthy lifestyle behaviors in Cankiri

This study aims to examine the adolescents’ self-esteem and healthy life style behaviors according to their some of sociodemographic characteristics and risky health behaviors. Methods: This descriptive and cross sectional study was conducted with 1001 students from 10 high school. Healthy Life Style Behaviours Scale (HLSBS) and Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (CSI) were used as data collection instruments. Findings: It was found that the adolescents’ self-esteem and healthy life style behavior score averages were moderate. When self-esteem and healthy life style behavior scores by sociodemographic characteristics were examined, it was deter-mined that the adolescents' HLSBS and CSI were lower than the others. These adolescents had the following fea- tures: such as mothers with low levels of education, living in a family with many children, limited time shared with the family, with the history of drug addiction and suicide attemps, exposed to violence in the family, had lower school success, had been involved in physically destructive behavior and drunk driving without a licence and seatbelt. Additionally, there was such a strong positive correlation between CSI and HLSBS scores of the adolescents that when HLSBS scores went up, their self-esteem levels went up, too. Results: This study shows that self-esteem and healthy lifestyle behaviors gained by adolescents is an important factor in determining the status of their psycho-social well-being. In this regard, applications and counseling services for protecting and improving the health of young people should be given importance and priority.