Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate factors influencing health promoting behavior of the late school age children and to analyze the difference of health promoting behavior according to personal factors of children. Methods: The subjects consisted of 169 school-aged children in the 6th grade in Gyeonggi-do. Data were collected from Dec. 1 to Dec. 10, 2008. The data were analyzed by using frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients and Stepwise multiple regression with the SPSS/WIN 12.0 program. Results: 1) Health promoting behavior was proved to be relatively high. The average item score for the health promoting behavior was $3.85{\pm}.41$. The highest degree of health promoting behavior was stress management (4.13). whereas the one with the lowest degree was exercise (3.40). 2) In the relationship between personal factors and health promoting behavior, there were statistically significant differences in gender, perceived health status, family mood, father's drinking habits, school performance, school satisfaction. 3) Health promoting behavior was showed significant positive correlations with perceived self-efficacy (r=.55), social support (r=.65), prior related behaviors (r=.44), perceived benefits of action (r=.42), and significant negative correlations with perceived barriers of action (r=-.37). 4) Stepwise multiple regression analysis was revealed that the most powerful predictor of health promoting behavior was social support ($\beta$=0.36) Conclusion: The combination of social support, perceived self-efficacy, perceived benefits of action, gender, and family mood accounted for 57.8% of the variance in the health promoting behavior of the late school age children.
