Socio-Demographic Determinants of Multiple Health Risk Behaviors among School Adolescents in Kurdistan Region, Iraq

The present study was aimed at exploring the prevalence of multiple health risk behaviors and determine their relationship with socio-demographic characteristics among adolescent high school students. The present investigation was a cross-sectional study that was carried out in the public high schools located in Erbil, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The study sample consisted of 1000 students who were selected using a multi-stage cluster sampling method from 32 high schools in 6 municipalities of Erbil. The required data were collected using a self-reported close-ended questionnaire. The present study was participated by 1000 adolescent high school students whose mean age was 16.7 years with a standard deviation of 1.2 and a median of 17 years. Over half of the students (57.4%) belonged to the age group 16–17 years. Regarding their gender, 57.4% were females, and the male: female ratio was 0.74: 1. With regard to their grades, about 43% of them studied in the 11^th grade. In terms of their socio-economic status (SES), more than half of them (54%) had a low status and 12.8% a high SES. It was observed that their mean risk was 3.38 with an SD of 2.15 and a median of 3.