The main purpose of this study was to clarify junior high school and high school students' behavior and attitudes related to medicine use. Participants were 326 students in the 9th grade of five public junior high schools and 1,369 students in the 10th grade of seven public high schools. The data were collected between September and October in2011, using an anonymous self-administered questionnaire.
The main results were as follows:
1）The percentages who had used medicines in the last month were 55.2% of males and 61.7% of females of the junior high school students and 57.5% of males and 65.8% of females of the high school students. The most common reason of medicine use was “cold”.
2）The percentages of students who had experiences of using medicines without consulting with adults, buying medicines by themselves, getting medicines from friends, and giving medicines to friends were higher in the female students than in the male students. Likewise, the percentages were higher in the high school students than in the junior high school students.
3）While about 90% had a belief that reading directions of medicine use is important, only a half actually read them.
4）Of students, 86.2～93.1% usually consulted with their guardian when they used medicines, and 59.2～73.8% regarded guardians as a reliable information source about medicine.
5）Of students, 36.5～37.1% of males and 29.2～34.8% of females saw the TV programs as a reliable information source about medicine. Similarly, 27.6～33.0% of males and 14.5～19.5% of females regarded so about the Internet.
This study clarified that there were some gender differences and school type differences in behavior and attitudes related to medicine use. Furthermore, it was considered that behavior and attitudes related to medicine use of guardians and friends might have the influences on students' behavior and attitudes. The results suggest that it is necessary to consider the influences of guardians and friends, media information, gender differences, and school type differences when developing an effective education program for an appropriate medicine use.
