Association between high levels of stress and risky health behavior.

AIM To determine the amount of stress to which young and adult persons were exposed during the last twelve months and relationship between stress levels and risky health behavior. METHODS The study was conducted from November 2011 until January 2012 in the Sarajevo Canton. The study included 700 respondents divided into two groups: 350 young people aged 15- 27 years and 350 adults aged over 27 years. As an instrument for data collection a questionnaire was used to provide information on demographic characteristics of respondents and habits, as well as Holmes and Rahe stress scale to determine the level of stress. RESULTS The average value of the stress scale score was 302.56±149.75 for the total sample, 331.7±165.7 for youth and 273.5±125.6 for adults. Respondents from the group of young people in the last twelve months had an average of 3.6 highly stressful events and 1.9 in the group of adults. In the group of young people there were more respondents with inadequate nutrition (p=0.023) and more smokers (p=0.128). In the group of adults more people were overweight (p=0.001) and had reduced physical activity (p=0.006). Both study groups had an equal number of respondents who consumed alcohol. People with high levels of stress consumed alcohol significantly more (p=0.03) and smoked (p=0.02) compared to those with low levels of stress. CONCLUSION The respondents of both groups were exposed to large amount of stress that was associated with smoking and alcohol consumption. There is a need to design appropriate strategies for coping with stress and their implementation in lifestyle.