Influence of Stress on Oral Health Practice of High School Students

Heo, A Rong; Park, In Suk; Song, Kwui Sook

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the self-perceived stress of high school students on their oral health care and the relationship between stress and oral health care. The subjects in this study were the students in four different high schools located in Chungcheongnam-do, on whom a self-administered survey was conducted. The answer sheets from 939 respondents were analyzed by PASW Statistics ver.18.0 for Windows. The girls were more stressed than the boys about their studies, appearance and material resource, and the sophomores felt more stress about their home and studies. The group whose academic achievement was good in the past semester had the lowest stress about home and material resource, and the group whose economic standard was higher were less stressed about appearance and material resource. As a result of comparing their oral health care by general characteristics, the groups who were sophomores and whose academic achievement was good in the past semester were most excellent in that regard, and the students whose economic standard was higher and whose average weekly allowances were larger took better care of their oral health. Concerning the influential factors for oral health care, stress about peer relationship was positively related, and stress about material resource was negatively related. Given the findings of the study, the development of oral health care programs that include how to relieve stress is required, and more intensive education is necessary as well. Besides, education for school personnel in charge of student health management and the development of related manuals are both required.