OBJECTIVETo investigate the stages of health-related behaviors, family and peer support situation about adolescent in Wuhan, and to provide evidence for health intervention and health promotion.

METHODSBased on the principle of multi-stage stratified cluster sampling, extracted two junior middle school and two high school in two cities in Wuhan from March 2012 to May. A total of 1 200 students, which were part of the first and second grade class in middle school and high school, toke as the investigation object. The study surveyed following content, including the demographic situation, adolescent health-related behavior (physical activity, sedentary behavior, high-fat diet behavior, fruit and vegetable intaking behavior), stages of adolescent health related behavior (precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance) and adolescent support got from family and peer. The questionnaire was distributed in 1 200 copies, the valid questionnaires were 1 052 and the effective rate was 87.67%. Using χ² test to compare the different stages of change in health related behavior, t test was used to compare different groups of social support and using analysis of variance and post test to analyze social support of the four types behavior.

RESULTSIn 1 052 students, there was 555 (52.8%) middle school students, 497 (47.2%) high school students, and 553 (52.6%) boys, 499 (47.4%) girls. In physical exercise and sedentary behavior, numbers of precontemplation was respectively accounting for 42.2% (444/1 200) and 28.4% (299/1 200). In high-fat diet behavior, the stages of preparation and maintain was occupied 46.7% (492/1 200). In fruit and vegetable intake behavior, there was 32.9% (346/1200) students in contemplation. Numbers in action stage was both less in the above four behavior, accounting for 6.2% (65/1 200), 8.9% (94/1 200), 14.0% (147/1 200) and 6.3% (66/1 200) separately. Adolescent peer support score respectively (2.9 ± 0.7), (2.8 ± 0.8) and (2.9 ± 0.9), which was higher than the family support scores ((2.7 ± 1.1), (2.5 ± 1.2) and (2.9 ± 1.2)) (t values were -8.72, -11.22 and -2.59, respectively. All P values were < 0.001) in physical exercise, sedentary behavior and high fat diet, but in the intake of fruits and vegetables behavior, family support score was higher than peer support (score was respectively (3.3 ± 0.9) and (3.5 ± 1.2); t < 9.97, P < 0.001). ANOVA and post hoc comparison showed that the score of family and peer support in the after-action stage was significantly higher than that the before-action stage in physical exercise, high-fat diet and fruit and vegetable intake behavior, while the differences in sedentary behavior was not significant.

CONCLUSIONYouth health-related behaviors remained in its infancy, there was a certain impact on its stages which showed that the higher social support the more advanced stages of behavior.

Adolescent ; Adolescent Behavior ; Diet, High-Fat ; Exercise ; Family ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; Fruit ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Male ; Peer Group ; Schools ; Social Support ; Students ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Vegetables

OBJECTIVETo learn the dietary fat intake behavior status and influencing psychological factors in teenagers.

METHODSAccording to the multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method, students were recruited from middle and high schools in Hangzhou, Wuhan and Xi'an from March to May, 2012. Chinese version of adolescent dietary fat intake behavior of psychological measurement scales was utilized in field investigations with 3 448 effective questionnaires. Under the transtheoretical model, the status quo of teenagers fat intake behavior was analyzed and it shows the relationship between stages and psychological variables, including strategy of change, decision balance and self-efficacy.

RESULTSIn the 3 448 participants, the proportion of girls were 52.4% (1 806/3 448) and boys were 47.6% (1 642/3 448), while the mean age was (14.85 ± 1.46). There are significant differences among distributed stages of behavior change, grouped by gender, grade and region (χ(2) values were 33.59, 20.53, 27.92, P < 0.001). In different gender groups, the number of boys in precontemplation came to the first and accounted for 24.2% (438/1 806), and the number of girls were more in contemplation and preparation stage, which accounted for 49.5% (813/1 642), and it was the least both in the action stage with the ratio 12.1% (218/1 806) and 14.7% (241/1 642) respectively; in different grade groups, the numbers of student in middle school and high school were the largest in contemplation and precontemplation stage, accounted for 24.9% (494/1 986) and 23.4% (343/1 462); and among different regions, the proportion in precontemplation, contemplation and preparation stage was not a few, and this ratio in Hangzhou, Wuhan, Xi'an area was 70.6% (801/1 135), 61.7% (649/1 052) and 68.8% (867/1 261), respectively. The number in action stage was the least of all, which were 144, 147, 168, respectively. Ordinal logistic mode showed that the four variables, including the scores of process of change, decision balance (pros), decision balance (cons) and self-efficacy, were factors which significantly affected the stages of behavior change, which showed a significant difference (F values were 155.12, 19.86, 44.59, 94.27, P < 0.001) in different stages. From precontemplation stage to action stage, the score of the process of change, decision balance (pros) and self-efficacy showed an upward trend, and achieved the highest score in the action stage (from 32.6 ± 12.8, 8.4 ± 2.9, 19.7 ± 6.9 to 48.4 ± 12.6, 10.1 ± 2.5, 25.9 ± 6.9, respectively); contrarily, the decision balance (cons) decreased with the development of behavioral stage (from 14.7 ± 4.4 to 12.2 ± 3.9). Post hoc comparison also found that the score of process of change, decision balance (pros) and self-efficacy after action stages were higher than those before action, while the score of decisional balance (cons) in the precontemplation stage was higher than that in the other 4 stages.

CONCLUSIONFat intake behavior in teenagers showed different stages, whose psychological factors had significant influences, with decision balance (pros) hindered the progress of stages of behavior change, while other three factors played a positive role.

Adolescent ; Adolescent Behavior ; Decision Making ; Dietary Fats ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Models, Theoretical ; Self Efficacy ; Students ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVETo develop a suitable fat intake behavior of psychological measurement scales for the Chinese adolescents and evaluate its validity and reliability.

METHODSAccording to the multi-stage stratified cluster sampling principle, a total of 3 600 junior students were recruited from the classes in 12 selected high schools in Hangzhou, Wuhan and Xi'an from March to May, 2012. Based on introducing and translating the original scale abroad, Chinese version of adolescent fat intake behavior of psychological measurement scales was utilized in field investigations. The reliability was assessed, using Cronbach's α and split-half reliability; while exploratory factor analysis used to test its validity, with entries-dimension correlation coefficient (IIC), correlation coefficient between the scores and the dimension, and the dimension of correlation coefficient test content validity.

RESULTSThe valid subject of the study was 3 448(of whom males were 52.4% (1 806/3 448) and female were 47.6% (1 642/3 448)), while the mean age was (14.85 ± 1.46) years old. The internal consistency reliability (Cronbach's α) for total scale score and four domains were 0.922,0.933, 0.660, 0.773 and 0.869 respectively, whose split-efficacy reliability were separately 0.927, 0.933, 0.790, 0.624 and 0.889. Data from the exploratory factor analysis revealed the following dimensions:the entries were all inclusive, with the cumulative contribution rate at 59.453%, 56.062% and 52.668%, respectively. The results of IIC showed that in the four dimensions, the contained entries between Spearman correlation coefficient have statistically significant, with the r value range of 0.584-0.793, 0.665-0.818, 0.654-0.765 and 0.622-0.747 severely, while other dimensions from weak to moderate relationships, the r value ranged from -0.028 to 0.614.

CONCLUSIONThe reliability and validity of the adolescent fat intake behavior of psychological measurement scales (Chinese version) were good, and could be used to measure the fat intake behavior of psychological conditions in Chinese adolescents.

Adolescent ; Dietary Fats ; Eating ; psychology ; Feeding Behavior ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Psychological Tests ; Students ; psychology ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVETo study the situation of sports and its influencing factors among students in order to improve health related education and promotion programs.

METHODSA multistage random sampling method was used on 3 600 students from three cities to understand their physical exercise behavior. Both t and χ(2) test were used to measure the scale of psychology and to describe the time spent on exercise. Single variance factor was used to measure the levels of change on behavior of physical activities, psychological and physical exercise behaviors.

RESULTSThe weekly exercise time for students was 2.66 ± 1.801 days, with 81.4% of the students less than four days. Data showed that 37.3%, 23.6%, 20.5% of the high school students were in pre-contemplation stage, in contemplation stage, or in preparation stage respectively, with only 18.6 percent of the high school students in the action phase and maintaining phase. Students in the stages of change increase the amount of physical exercises. Scores with statistically significant differences were seen in the following areas: between five stages of behavior change on strategies (F = 77.442, P < 0.001), forward effects on the balance of decision-making (F = 29.498, P < 0.001), having negative effects (F = 14.784, P < 0.001)and self-efficacy (F = 135.544, P < 0.001). Changing strategy on the intention stage of front maintenance phase, positive effects on decision-making balance and self-efficacy scores were increasing along with the increasing stages of changing. The effect of balancing the negative effects increased when the change of phase decreased.

CONCLUSIONStudents were in lack of physical exercise per week. The differences related to the behavior on physical exercise did exist but most of the high school students were in the primary stage. Psychological factors played important role in the different stages of changing, suggesting that high school students should receive different health education and psychological intervention measures to enhance the effectiveness of physical exercise.

Adolescent ; Exercise ; psychology ; Female ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Male ; Students ; psychology