Health Practices of University Students

일부 대학생들의 건강관련행위

This paper analyzed health practices of students in an university in Chollabukdo Province. It attempted to study how many university students had what kinds of health practices. Furthermore, it tried to find out what are the major problems in health practice among university students. To study health practices of university students, this study sampled 1,469 students randomly. Many of the students had poor practices of teeth care. In tooth-brushing, many students (35.8%) brushed their teeth before breakfast in the morning. Most of the students (95% or more) visit dental clinic only when they had problem(s) in their teeth. For weights, there exists a great gap between perception and BMI (Body Mass Index), especially among female students. Among the female students who perceived their weights were above average, 96.4% of them were normal according to BMI. Many of the students were drinking greater amount of alcohol than safe amount suggested by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia. The proportion of the students drinking harmful or hazardous amount of alcohol were 79.5% of the male students and 74.9% of the female students. It suggests that health promotion fund or tax need to be levied on alcohol to frustrate unhealthful drinking. More than half (59.0%) of the male students and about 6.0% of the female students were smoking cigarettes. The smoking initiation ages were 17.8 for male and 18.2 for female students. It means that many of the students started smoking in their junior high or high schools. It implies that smoking prevention and smoking cessation programs need to be emphasized in these schools. For perception on sex, 27.8% of the male students and 60.9% of the female students thought to keep their virginity before their marriage. The female students were more conservative in perception on sex. The average number of sexual intercourses per year of male students was 17.0 times with their lovers, 7.9 times with prostitutes, and 7.0 times with maids. The female students had sexual intercourses 5.0 times with their lovers and 4.0 times with waiters per year. The proportion of students who had experience of sexual intercourse with homosexual partners was 1.0%. The finding this study was that the university students were vulnerable to poor health practices. It is suggested that public health intervention program be provided for university students to keep them in good healthy lifestyle.