Abstract
Purpose: This study was a part of preliminary survey for establishing Korean HPS(Health Promoting School) model which was originally suggested by WHO. Methods: Three elementary and middle schools were sampled in urban and rural area across three level of social-economic status, and survey was conducted on one class in each grade by random selection. To measure mental health and social and familial factors, self-esteem scale, self-efficacy scale, depression scale, family cohesion scale, parent-child communication scale, adolescent's mental health and problem behavior questionnaire(AMPQ), and other question items about family status and economic level were conducted. Students' mental health level was compared by region, sex, grade, and other familial and economic factors. Results: Familial and social factors such as economical and educational level of parents, number of family members were different between rural and urban area. Also, students of rural area got lower scores at self-esteem, self-efficacy, but higher scores at extroverted problem behavior than their urban counterparts. In pre-school students, high grade students' self-esteem, and family cohesion scores were lower than low grade students. And sexual differences were found across problem behavior domain and region in middle school students. Especially, the students of single-parent family and lower economic family got insistently low scores at various mental health related scales. Conclusion: These results should be considered, when the HPS model is designed and applied in Korea.
