Unhealthy Lifestyle Practices of In-School Adolescents in Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to find out the unhealthy lifestyle practices of in- school adolescents in Nsukka LGA of Enugu State. Three specific objectives with three corresponding research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The descriptive research design was employed for the study. The population for the study consisted of 56,231 in-school adolescents during the 2015/2016 academic session. The multi-stage sampling procedure was used to obtain 400 in–school adolescent aged between 10-22 years. The instrument for data collection was 27-item researchers’ designed questionnaire termed Unhealthy Lifestyle Practices Questionnaires (ULPQ). The results showed that unhealthy lifestyle practices of in-school adolescents include physical inactivities (70.5%), unhealthy nutritional behaviour (54.6%), substances abuse (54.0%), and unhealthy sexual behaviour (53.9%). There was significant association between age and gender, and unhealthy lifestyle practice of in-school adolescents. (Age: p =.000<.05, Gender: p =.001<.05). The researchers recommended among others that government should ensure that all school have good environment for learning, enough facilities and equipments in school to occupy the students especially during their leisure time.