Abstract

PURPOSE
This study was conducted to measure the levels of Health status, perceived stress, self-esteem, and achievement motivation and assertive behavior of adolescents. The relationships among these variables as well as predictors of health status were examined.
METHOD
The sample was composed of 496 students (male: 195, female: 301) from 3 high schools in Seoul and Kyunggi-Do regions. The instruments used in this study were as follows: health status scale developed by Noh (1991), perceived stress scale developed by Park(1996), self-esteem scale developed by Rosenberg (1965), achievement motivation scale developed by Park(1986) and assertive behavior scale developed by Kim(1982). The reliability of the five instruments were examined using Chronbachs' alpha that ranged from .63 to .90 in this study. The data were analyzed with the SAS program using descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, Duncan multiple comparison, Pearson correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression.
RESULTS
The results were as follows: 1. The mean score of health status was 3.1, which was higher than the median of the instrument. 2. There were significant correlations of health status with self-esteem (r=.381, p=.0001), assertive behavior (r=.503, p=.0001), and perceived stress (r=-.352, p=.0001). 3. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that 34% of health status was affected by the level of assertive behavior (25%), self-esteem (7%), and perceived stress (2%).
CONCLUSION
Based on these findings, assertive behavior and self-esteem appear to be specific important areas of future research as to better understand the health status of adolescents, and to develop health status-related interventions for them.