Health Promotion Behaviors and Its Predictors Among the College Students in Iran

Abstract

The health-promoting behaviors form typically during adolescence and youth. This study was conducted to determine the status of the health-promoting behaviors in the students of Babol University of Medical Sciences and its predictors. This cross-sectional study was done on 350 students from April 2016 to July 2016. The applied questionnaires were health-promoting lifestyle profile II, general self-efficacy scale, and sociodemographic variables. Data were analyzed using the SPSS software by descriptive tests, one-way analysis of variance, and multivariable linear regression. The mean total health-promoting lifestyle profile II score was 126.79 ± 19.28. In the subscales, the participants scored the highest in interpersonal relations (24.62 ± 4.59) and the lowest in physical activity (16.53 ± 4.17). Analyses of the data showed that there was a significant association among some subscales of health-promoting behaviors and gender, family size, living in dormitory and also showed that self-efficacy remained as significant factor in relation to all subscales of health-promoting behaviors.