Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the health knowledge, attitude and behaviors of Korea high school students and find out the relationship between knowledge, attitude and behaviors in an effort to lay the foundation for the development of health-promotion programs and health education for adolescents. The subjects were 505 students in their first and second year of high school in Gangnam-gu and Guro-gu, Seoul. After a survey was conducted for seventeen days from April 23 to May 9, 2003, with self-administered questionnaires, the collected data was encoded and analyzed with SPSS Win 11.0 program. The frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were calculated, and χ²-test, t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe Post Hoc Tests and Pearson Correlation procedure were employed. The findings of this study were as follows： 1. There appeared significant differences in general traits, family-related characteristics and health-related features between the students in Gangnam and the others in Guro. 2. The collective average of the Gangnam residents in health knowledge was 13.97, and that of the Guro residents was 14.64. The overall collective average was 14.35(total of 22 points), and 65.2 percent of the students investigated had a correct knowledge. The points showed significant differences in the variables of sex, economic status, mother's occupation,and health concerns. 3. The students from Gangnam scored a mean of 77.55 in health attitude, and the others from Guro got an average of 78.75. The overall collective average was 78.22(total of 110 points), and 71.1 percent took a correct attitude toward health. The points showed significant differences in the variables of sex, religion, mother's education level, health concerns. 4. In the field of health behavior, the Gangnam residents got a mean of 63.99, and the Guro dwellers scored a mean of 62.12. There was a significant gap between the two groups, and the overall collective average was 62.94(total of 102 points). 61.5 percent tried to stay fit in a correct behavior. The points showed significant differences in the variables of sex, economic status, parents' education level, father's occupation, health concern of parents, self-perceived health status, health concern, exercise or diet performance for health, health education times for 1yr. 5. Concerning the relationship of health knowledge to health attitude and behavior, the health knowledge showed significantly positive correlation with health attitude(r＝0.227, p＜0.01), and the health knowledge showed significantly positive correlation with health behavior(r＝0.262, p＜0.001). But their relationship is comparatively low. The health attitude was not significantly correlated to health behavior.
