HEALTH BEHAVIORS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN EIGHTH GRADERS ATTENDING URBAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Contributors: University Of Illinois At Chicago, Health Sciences Center.
Published: 1994
Number of pages: 107
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Anthropology, Cultural.; Education, Health.
Description: African American eighth graders' health behaviors are critical as strategies are developed to effect an improved quality of life, and life expectancy achieved by other Americans for African Americans. The eighth graders' health behaviors in this study were examined with consideration of their individual characteristics including age, gender, self-esteem and motivation.

The resulting conceptual framework was guided by the Interactive Model of Client Health Behavior. Two hundred and forty randomly selected African American eighth-grade students, ages 12 to 15, comprised the sample. A 96 item, four part survey was administered by the investigator in twelve regular eighth-grade classrooms of the two randomly selected public elementary schools.

The results showed a gender difference in the African American eighth graders' performance of health behaviors and their self-reported health problems. Motivation and self-esteem were not significant in relationship to performance of health behaviors. Males reported more health problems than females, and the incidence of self-reported asthma cases was twice the rate of the incidence of asthma reported in school surveys by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

These data suggest that interventions in elementary school students, for health promotion, illness management, and disease prevention, should be considered. The gender differential in the performance of positive health behaviors also suggests that gender-based strategies to promote health, particularly for African American males, may be appropriate with African American elementary school students.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-05, Section: B, page: 1804.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO, HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER, 1994.

School code: 0806.