Background: Many factors can influence health behavior during adolescence, and the lifestyle of adolescents is associated with health behavior during adulthood. Therefore, their behavior can determine not only present, but also later health status.Objective: We aimed to develop an intervention program to improve high school students' health behavior and to evaluate its effectiveness.Methods: We performed our study at a secondary school in a rural town in East Hungary between 2016 and 2020. Sessions about healthy lifestyles were organized regularly for the intervention group to improve students' knowledge, to help them acquire the right skills and attitudes, and to shape their behavior accordingly. Data collection was carried out via self-administered, anonymous questionnaires (n = 192; boys = 49.5%; girls = 50.5%; age range: 14–16). To determine the intervention-specific effect, we took into account the differences between baseline and post-intervention status, and between the intervention and control groups using individual follow-up data. We used generalized estimating equations to assess the effectiveness of our health promotion program.Results: Our health promotion program had a positive effect on the students' health-related knowledge and health behavior in the case of unhealthy eating, moderate to vigorous physical activity, and alcohol consumption.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that school health promotion can be effective in knowledge transfer and lifestyle modification. To achieve a more positive impact on health behavior, preventive actions must use a complex approach during implementation.

The importance of puberty on later health status and behavior is indisputable, which also means that it is worth making intervention efforts during this period of life. However, whether better health-related knowledge is correlated with favorable health behavior in adolescents is an important, still unanswered question. Our objective was to examine this relationship. The participants were ninth-grade secondary school students. Data were collected using anonymous, self-administered questionnaires. The knowledge-related questions were compiled by the authors, while the questions concerning eating habits, physical activity, demographic and socioeconomic data were taken from the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children survey. The relationship between knowledge and behavior was investigated with structural equation modeling adjusted for gender, age, and socioeconomic status. The results demonstrated a good fit to the data, but better knowledge was not related to behavior in our sample. This finding suggests that adolescents’ health behavior is highly influenced by the living context; therefore, appropriate knowledge is necessary but not sufficient to improve adolescents’ behavior. Hence, comprehensive health promotion programs could provide solutions for encouraging healthy behavior.

Mental disorders are common in adolescents, and for effective interventions we should be aware of their determinants. However, there are only a small number of studies investigating the combined effect of multiple factors. Therefore, our aim is to assess the impact of socioeconomic status, social support, and health behavior on adolescents’ mental well-being. A cross-sectional health survey of 1641 children was carried out in accordance with the study protocol of the Hungarian Health Behavior in School-aged Children survey. Multivariate multiple regression was used to analyze the main determinants of mental well-being. The boys’ mental well-being was favorable compared to girls; lower subjective family wealth was associated with lower life satisfaction and depressive mood. Life satisfaction was positively related to healthy eating, social support, and physical activity. Unhealthy eating, sedentary lifestyle, and lower social support were associated with higher depression scores. Higher social support reduces psychosomatic symptoms, while unhealthy eating and spending a lot of time in front of the computer increase them. Both social support and healthy lifestyle seem to be protective against mental health problems among adolescents, and thus interventions should focus on these factors regardless of the socioeconomic status of the participants, with special attention given to girls.

Background/Objectives: Schools can play a key role in promoting health among adolescents, and Hungarian legislation gives them sufficient space to do so. In our study, we examined the impact of a multiyear school health promotion programme on pupils’ health behaviour and well-being. Methods: We carried out our investigation in an intervention and a control primary school in Hungary. All 5th and 7th grade pupils were invited to participate in the questionnaire-based survey between 2017 and 2021. The effect of the intervention was quantified using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: Our results show that for those behaviours where pupils’ personal choices had a greater influence (unhealthy eating, smoking, screen time), the health promotion programme was more effective. For those behaviours where family background and parental influence were more pronounced (healthy eating, physical activity), the intervention had less impact. Self-perceived health was better in the 7th-grade intervention group. Conclusions: Our findings are in line with the conclusion of systematic reviews that more intensive, longer-term, multi-behavioural school health promotion programmes can be effective in promoting positive behaviour. To be more effective, it would be worth using a well-structured curriculum, well-developed teaching materials, and greater involvement of teachers, parents, and various local organisations.

The first project of the Action Network on Measuring Population and Organizational Health Literacy was the Health Literacy Population Survey 2019–2021 (HLS ₁₉ ). Based on the HLS ₁₉ 's experience, improvements were needed to the communicative health literacy questionnaire before it could be used in the second wave of the HLS survey. Our aim was to test the comprehensibility of the Hungarian version of the revised questionnaire with cognitive interviews. Two questions caused comprehension problems: (1) discussing health information with your doctor from other sources such as internet, family and friends—participants found this question too long and difficult, so we changed the sentence structure to make it more understandable; (2) expressing personal views and preferences to your doctor—the interviewees misunderstood the question, they did not realize that we were referring to health-related personal views. During the translation process, it was challenging to convey the meaning of “health concern” in Hungarian, the version with examples in parentheses was deemed the most effective. The final version of the revised questionnaire seemed to be understandable and comprehensible.