Aim: To explore relations between socioeconomic factors and health risk behaviors in university students in Turkey.
Methods: A total of 650 students currently enrolled at the university in Ankara were selected for the study by means of a circular sampling method. They answered a questionnaire on health risk behaviors. We used multivariate analysis to analyze the relations between socioeconomic variables and each of the following participants' behaviors in the last year: use of cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs; driving under the influence of alcohol; unprotected sex; attempted suicide; self-mutilation; physical fighting; carrying firearms or edged weapon; not wearing a safety belt in motor vehicles; or riding a motorcycle without a helmet.
Results: Health risk behaviors in university students were in general related to low socioeconomic status, except for alcohol use, which was related to high socioeconomic status. Among female students whose mothers had completed high school, 81.9% used alcohol, compared with less than 68% of female students whose mothers had not completed high school or had completed university (P<0.001). Also, 4.0% of female students whose mothers had completed high school had attempted suicide, compared with less than 1.5% of female students whose mothers had not completed high school or had completed university (P=0.026). In male students, important variables were parental education level and paternal employment status. Among male students who had unemployed fathers, 66.7% used cigarettes (P=0.015), 26.7% engaged in substance use (P<0.010), and 4.4 % attempted suicide (P<0.050) in comparison with 11.9 and 0.7%, respectively, of male students whose fathers were employed. Logistic regression showed male gender to be associated with an increase in all risk behaviors (odds ratio 1.114, 95% confidence interval 1.652-5.622, P<0.001).
Conclusion: This study confirms the findings of similar studies in western developed countries, suggesting that relations between socioeconomic variables and health risk behaviors in young people reflect a basic phenomenon not greatly influenced by culture.