Background & Aim: Menarcheal age is an important indicator of puberty development in girls and is influenced by a wide variety of factors including race, socio-economic status and etc. The relationship between age at menarche with weight, and BMI is controversial. The present study was designed to determine the relationship between age at menarche and BMI.

Methods & Materials: This was a cross–sectional study. The sample size was 580 primary and secondary schoolgirls of Tehran/Iran by using cluster sampling. The data was collected by completing questionnaire and measuring height (cm) and weight (kg) by one trained person and analyzed by Pearson and one way ANOVA.

Results: 580 schoolgirls participated in this study. The mean menarcheal age was 12/1(1/2), mean weight 45/6 (8/2) kg and the mean BMI was 18/4 (2/4) kg/m2. This result indicated that there were a statically significance difference in mean height (p<0/0001) and mean weight (p<0/006) at different age of menarche and no significance difference in mean of weight. The Pearson test, show linear positive correlation between age of menarche and height but reversed linear correlation between age of menarche and BMI.

Conclusion: According to this finding appears menarcheal age has significant correlation with BMI and height. Therefore as menarcheal age decreases, BMI increases.

Background & Aim: Healthy behaviors of teenagers are effective on the community development. This study was carried out in order to compare healthy behaviors of female teenagers living with their families and in orphanage centers in Tehran.

Methods & Materials: This was a cross-sectional study. The subjects were consisted of 110 female teenagers that 55 of them dwelled in the orphanage centers and the remaining lived with their families. Both groups were studying at the same schools. Samples were selected using stratified random sampling method. Questionnaire was used to gather data. The data were analyzed by descriptive and analytical statistical methods in SPSS software.

Results: There were statistically significant differences between two groups in nutrition (P<0.0003), sleep & rest (P<0.001), physical exercise (P<0.0013), and individual health (P<0.001). Total score of health behaviors were 112.3, and 87.8 in family group and orphanage group respectively (P<0.001).

Conclusion: The average score of health behaviors in girls that reside in orphanage centers was lower than the score of them who lived with their families. This shows the necessity of planning educational and managerial tools to improve their healthy behaviors.

Background & Aim: Cigarette smoking is a common risky behavior among teenagers. Theories and models of health education aim to design effective educational programs. This study has been conducted to assess the effect of a health education program designed based on the health belief model on preventive smoking behaviors among female teenagers.

Methods & Materials: In this quasi-experimental study, 176 female teenagers from the Educational Cultural Centers of 17 zones of Tehran Municipality were randomly allocated to two equal experiment and control groups (88 girls in each group). The designed educational program was presented to the experiment group through three lecture and question/answer 45 minute sessions. Data were collected using a questionnaire before and eight weeks after the intervention. Data were analyzed using the SPSS-16.

Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in the characteristics of the participants before the intervention. Comparison of the two experiment and control groups after education showed that the mean score of all studied constructs of the health belief model (i.e., susceptibility, severity, benefits and barriers, cues to action), as well as the preventive behaviors were increased significantly.

Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the program seems to be helpful in promoting the smoking preventive behavior among teenagers.