Health-related behaviors and nutritional status of adolescents who study asboarders and day-students.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Boarders and day-students study together in regional boarding schools. This study was carried out to compare the health and nutritional status of boarders and day-students who study at regional boarding schools in Turkey.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total 634 boarders and 492 day-students in the 4th-8th years of nine boarding schools in Giresun Province of Turkey were included. A questionnaire including 49 questions about sociodemographic characteristics and health and nutritional status was completed by the students. Height and weight measurements of the students were also taken. The chi-square test was used for statistical analyses.

RESULTS: The boarders evaluated their health status as worse than the day-students. The proportion of the students having three meals a day was higher among the boarders than the day-students. According to BMI values, 11% of the boarders were evaluated as underweight, 77% as normal, 9.5% as overweight, and 2.5% as obese. These proportions were respectively 15.5%, 67.3%, 12.8%. and 4.5% for the day-students.

CONCLUSION: The boarders have more regular diets and the proportion of normal-weighed boarders was higher than that of the day-students. However, they perceived their health as worse than the day-tudents.