Background/Purpose This study aimed to find out the relationship between the health behaviors and Body Mass Index (BMI) among middle and high school girls.
Method The 5th Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-Based Survey was completed by 75,066 boys and girls students from middle and high school in 2009. Of those, 34,247 girls' surveys were used in this study.
Analysis/Results Analysis of frequency and cross tabs, using the SPSS(Ver. 16.0.), indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in the cases of socio-demographic variables (social economic status, father's educational level, mother's educational level, and students' academic achievement) and dietary habit variables (p<0.05). Although there was a statistically significant difference in physical activity (PA) behavior variables (moderate PA, vigorous PA,muscle strengthening activities, and 60 minutes of daily PA) (p<0.05), there was, however, no significant difference in muscular strengthening activities in high school girl students. Also, there was a statistically significant difference in the crosstabs between the degree and cause of stress and BMI (p<0.05). In the cases of body type perception and the degree of weight-control effort, there was a significant difference (p<0.05).
Conclusions In conclusion, it should be considered necessary to show continued interest and put efforts into training specialists in schools and parental education in order to help overweight and obese students to form good dietary habits and understand obesity prevention for themselves.
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