Health behaviour and the school environment in New South Wales, Australia

The relationship between the school environment and health has infrequently been examined. This study sought to examine the association between school students' perceptions of their school environment, teachers' and peers sup port and their health behaviours. A cross sectional descriptive survey by s upervised self-administration was conducted in 1996 based on the internatio nal WHO collaborative survey of school children's health and lifestyle (the HBSC Study) and extended in an Australian setting. Randomly sampled primar y and secondary schools from Catholic, Independent and Government education sectors throughout New South Wales (NSW), Australia, were invited to parti cipate. The final sample included 3918 school students attending Year 6 (pr imary school), Year 8 and Year 10 (high school) from 115 schools. The main outcome measures were self-reported health status and 7 health behaviours ( tobacco use, alcohol use, physical activity, dental hygiene, nutritional in take, seat belt and bicycle helmet use). Independent variables included stu dent perceptions of the school environment, perceptions of teachers' and pe ers' support. Girls, Year 6 students and students who have less than $19 a week to spend were significantly more likely to have positive perceptions t owards their school environment, teacher(s) and peers. Students who had pos itive perceptions regarding their school environment and perceived their te achers as supportive were significantly more likely to engage in health pro moting behaviours adjusting for age, sex and average weekly pocket money. A supportive peer environment was not associated with positive health behavi our. Health promotion practitioners need to consider the impact of the scho ol environment on health behaviours of school students. In particular, prac titioners should consider intervention models that improve the school envir onment as a key strategy within a health promoting school. (C) 1999 Elsevie r Science Ltd. All rights reserved.