Health Behaviour of Adolescents: A Study on High School Students

Adolescence is the most crucial stage of human life, and puberty is its beginning. Adolescents duringpuberty go through several biological and socio-psychological changes. They encounter various healthhazards, risks, and, sometimes, suffer from many physical and mental upsets, disarrays, and problemsthat shape their health behaviors in the future. This paper focuses on the exploration of health behaviorsof high-school-going adolescents and how they adapt to changes occurred during adolescence. In orderto elicit their health status and health behaviors, a cross-sectional study comprised of a sample of 160high-school-going boys and girls aged from 12 to 16 years was conducted in four schools under fourunions of four districts in Bangladesh. Significant findings show that high-school-going adolescents gothrough a series of physical, mental, and emotional changes in adolescence. Many have the knowledgeand are aware of these changes and contemporaneous health problems, but some are not and get fears.While their health behaviors depend on how they perceive their health and whom they share with andreceive suggestions. In most cases, girls first inform their mother or sisters or grannies; boys inform theirfriends and peer groups but share a little to their parents and seniors in the family. In both cases, theytend to hide their problems and seldom seeks healthcare from qualified healers. This study concludes thatmeasures like health education and knowledge of puberty should exactly be provided to help them growup smoothly throughout their future life.