Jordanian adolescents’ health behaviour and school climate:

AimThis study was conducted to assess the occurrence of physical activity, nutritional habits, tooth brushing and seat belt use behaviour among adolescent school students in Jordan, and to examine the effect of psychosocial aspects of school on these behaviours.MethodA cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was used to draw a sample of in-school adolescents aged between 11 and 15 years. The final sample included 1166 adolescents from five public and two private schools. Study participants filled in a translated version of the health behaviour in school aged children questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, correlational (point biserial), and bivariate analyses (chi-square tests) were used to analyse the data.ResultsAmong the study sample 34.5% of the adolescents practised exercise outside school hours once a week or less frequently, and only 53.1% of them brushed their teeth more than once a day. Regarding seat belt use, 44.7% of the adolescents used them rarely or never. Concerning carbonated sug...