Health risk behaviours among secondary school students in Botswana

Abstract

Studies exploring the health risk behaviours of youth are key to understanding the challenges faced by young people today. This understanding will help to facilitate an understanding of these challenges and create interventions that will help enhance the ability of adolescents to resist risky behaviours. This study is a preliminary investigative survey which sought to establish some of the behaviours that expose adolescents to risk and might lead to injury or premature death. The participants in this study were students of four secondary schools in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana. A total of 400 students who joined the study on voluntary basis were surveyed. Health risk behaviours were assessed by employing a modified version of the Youth Health Risk behaviour Questionnaire (YBRS, 2010). The results of the study show that adolescents in Botswana face similar health compromising behaviours as other adolescent‟s world wide. There is a need therefore to implement intervention strategies in order to reverse this trend.

Key words: Risky behavior, health, adolescents, resilience, intervention strategies.