Socioeconomic factors and health risk behaviors among university students in Turkey: questionnaire study

To explore relations between socioeconomic factors and health risk behaviors in university students in Turkey. A total of 650 students currently enrolled at the university in Ankara were selected for the study by means of a circular sampling method. They answered a questionnaire on health risk behaviors. We used multivariate analysis to analyze the relations between socioeconomic variables and each of the following participants' behaviors in the last year: use of cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs; driving under the influence of alcohol; unprotected sex; attempted suicide; self-mutilation; physical fighting; carrying firearms or edged weapon; not wearing a safety belt in motor vehicles; or riding a motorcycle without a helmet. Health risk behaviors in university students were in general related to low socioeconomic status, except for alcohol use, which was related to high socioeconomic status. Among female students whose mothers had completed high school, 81.9% used alcohol, compared with less than 68% of female students whose mothers had not completed high school or had completed university (P