Health beliefs of the school-aged child and their relationship to risk-taking behaviours.
Health educators are frequently exhorted to encourage the development of functional lifestyles among school-aged children. Current efforts, however, often neglect consideration of the full spectrum of relevant age groups and the context imposed by the students' existing health beliefs. Interview data from a probability sample of children 6-17 years of age enable such assessment. Findings indicate that "health" is a meaningful concept and of concern to a majority of students, regardless of age or sex. However, a majority also report engaging in health-related risk-taking behaviours, and yet deny personal responsibility for poor health outcomes. Children of all ages were found to discriminate among illnesses, in terms of both their perceived personal vulnerability to the conditions and the extent to which they worry about them. Finally, by incorporating these attitudinal components as well as other social and demographic characteristics, regression analyses provide exploratory profiles of the current cigarette smoker and user of alcohol. Differences between each risk-taking behaviour are reviewed, as are areas for improving research into children's health beliefs and behaviours.