High-Risk Behaviors Related to Intentional and Unintentional Harm in Adolescents of Zahedan, Iran

BACKGROUND Adolescence and youth are life-threatening stages of development when a range of unsafe behaviors can harmfully affect a person's health and their social and educational performance. OBJECTIVES The present study aimed to determine the incidence and prevalence of high-risk behaviors related to intentional and unintentional harm in adolescents of Zahedan (Iran). PATIENTS AND METHODS This cross-sectional study included 1000 randomly selected male and female high school students of Zahedan, Iran. The Persian version of High Risk Behavior Questionnaire and Goldberg's 28-item General Health Questionnaire were used to collect data. Descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) was used to analyze data. RESULTS The most prevalent behaviors were not wearing seat belt (48%), riding a motorcycle without a helmet (42.3%) and involvement in physical conflicts (38.7%). Both the incidence and prevalence of the studied behaviors were higher in boys than girls. Moreover, greater prevalence of behaviors related to intentional and unintentional harm was observed in subjects with a drug abusing friend or family member. CONCLUSIONS The incidence and prevalence of high-risk behaviors in the studied population were slightly lower compared to several other parts of the country and some other countries. Nevertheless, since the rates and trend are alarming, sectoral and intersectoral cooperation is indispensable to the implementation of preventive interventions at different levels of society. Such efforts would obviously require the help of experts in various fields and necessitate the assessment of sociocultural features of the population.