cross sectional study on the prevalence of behavioural problems, the risk factors and perception of
parents towards adolescent aged 13 - 19 years old in Kampung Jerijeh was done from 4 September-20
October 2000 by Year 4 Medical Students of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences) UNIMAS. 108
parents and 78 teenage respondents were studied using universal sample technique. 24 respondent had to
be excludeds, as they could not be found for interview after three trials. This study was done by
questionnaire cum interview technique. Two different sets of questionnaire were used for the adolescent
respondent and parent respondent. Results of the study shows that 24.9% of respondent have taken
alcohol before, 2.6% had sniffed glue, 33.3% had smoked and 52.6% had disciplinary problems. This
study shows a statistically significant association between age and attitude with disciplinary problems.
There are no significant association between knowledge of respondents with disciplinary problem. There
are also no significant association between knowledge and attitude of respondents with disciplinary
problems, alcohol abuse, smoking and glue sniffing. More male adolescent respondents had behavioural
problems compared to their female counterparts. Some factors for these behavioural problems were
identified as boredom, curiosity to try something different and peer influence. The majority of the parent
respondents were not aware of behavioural problems in their children. An intervention program with the
theme of `Remaja Berwawasan Tunggak Negara' was held from 24 September -8 October 2000 with the
objective to increase the attitude and to increase the knowledge of adolescents regarding behavioural
problems