Prevalence of injury-related behaviors among junior high school students in Guizhou province

Objective To analyze the prevalence of injury-related behaviors among junior high school students in Guizhou province and to provide evidences for developing relative prevention strategies.

Methods We conducted a self-administered questionnaire survey among 2 380 junior students selected with stratified multistage cluster sampling from 6 high schools in 3 prefectures of Guizhou province during September 2016.

Results The top three frequently reported injury-related behaviors were learning stress (reported by 80.0% 1 903 of the students), loneliness (69.5% 1 655, and being bullied (61.6% 1 467). There were significant regional differences in the occurrence of all forms of unintentional injury-related behaviors (P < 0.05 for all), except for skating in an unsafe place. Compared to those in other cities, the students in cities with a better economic development reported higher occurrence of being bullied (χ² = 98.740), fighting (χ² = 49.079), idea of leaving away from home (χ² = 8.312), and behavior of leaving away from home (χ² = 14.924) (all P < 0.05). Significant higher occurrence of stress, insomnia, self-harm, suicidal ideation, suicide plan, attempted suicide, idea of leaving away from home, and behavior of leaving away from home were reported among the third-year students than among the first-year and second-year students (P < 0.05 for all). There were significant differences in the occurrence of all forms of injury-related behaviors between male and female students (P < 0.05 for all), except for the occurrence of self-harm and leaving away from home.

Conclusion Junior high school students in Guizhou province are at high risk of injury-related behaviors. Targeted interventions should be promoted in schools, families and communities to prevent and reduce injury-related behaviors in the population.