Concurrent multiple health risk behaviors among adolescents in Luangnamtha province, Lao PDR

BMC Public Health

Table 1 Socio-demographic characteristic of adolescents aged 14-19 years old and their parents in Luangnamtha province, Lao PDR

Variables	Total		Boys		Girls		p-value
	N = 1360	%	N = 669	%	N = 691	%
Age							<.001
=<15	447	32.9	184	27.5	263	38.1
16-19	913	67.1	485	72.5	428	61.9
Ethnicity							.784
Lao	504	37.1	241	36.0	263	38.1
Akha	249	18.3	123	18.4	126	18.2
Khamu	435	32.0	215	32.1	220	31.8
Hmong & Yao	172	12.6	90	13.5	82	11.9
Education							<.001
Never	107	7.9	28	4.2	79	11.4
Primary	402	29.5	196	29.3	206	29.8
Secondary & higher	851	62.6	445	66.5	406	58.8
Attending school							.005
Out-of school	429	31.5	187	28.0	242	35.0
In-school	931	68.5	482	72.0	449	65.0
Source of income*
Working	567	41.7	244	36.5	323	46.7	<.001
Parents	1164	85.6	559	83.6	605	87.6	.037
Scholarship	18	1.3	12	1.8	6	0.9	.158
Relative	166	12.2	95	14.2	71	10.3	.031
Others	92	6.8	10	1.5	82	11.9	<.001
Living arrangement							.013
Other	244	17.9	137	20.5	107	15.3
Family	1116	82.1	531	79.5	585	84.7
Father's education							.107
Illiterate	334	31.0	163	29.5	171	32.8
Primary	480	44.7	242	43.7	238	45.7
Secondary & higher	261	24.3	149	26.9	112	21.5
Mother's education							.442
Illiterate	674	57.2	335	56.8	339	57.6
Primary	388	32.9	190	32.2	198	33.6
Secondary & higher	117	9.9	65	11.0	52	8.8

Note:
N for mother's education = 1179 due to separated/divorced and death
N for father's education = 1075 due to separated/divorced and death
Chi-square was used to test the difference between boys and girls and Fisher's exact
test was used, when the expected value is less than 5 more than 20%.
* This is the multiple responses and the percentages were calculated based on the
number of respondents, the sum of responses therefore may be ≥100%

ISSN: 1471-2458