Abstract:
Background: The health risk behaviors of adolescent and youth, and factors associated with their physical and mental wellbeing are still a concern contributing a large amount of harm to both themselves and to others.
Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of health risk behaviors among learners in selected high schools in Thembisile Hani Municipality in Mpumalanga Province.
Methods: A quantitative approach was used to conduct the study. A cross-sectional, descriptive research design was adopted for this the study. A simple random sampling was employed in the selection of schools. The data was collected from 385 learners who were sampled by stratification. Data was collected using close-ended questionnaires. To determine the health risk behaviors among the learners in each age group, grades, height, body mass, and body mass index (BMI) were also determined. Microsoft Excel was used to capture the data and analysis was carried out using SPSS version 26.0 and the Chi-Square test was employed to determine the association between health risk behaviour and demography of participants.
Results: The highest prevalence of health risk behavior in boys and girls combined fluctuates and varies, tobacco use (64.7%), alcohol intake (64.4%) have tried drinking alcohol and physical activity status was low (19.5%) among study population. The socioeconomic status of many learners, which implies (43.64%) employment and income of the family was found to be one of the factors exposing them to health risk factors. The study further revealed that the learners are at risk of developing cardiovascular disease as indicted by their BMI which revealed a high (27%) of obesity and (34%) of overweight, thus the health risk behavior is real.
Conclusion: The study concluded that there is a high prevalence of health risk factors which will affect the learners in their late life. This study revealed alarming red flags that should not be ignored by the public and authorities.
