[The health of adolescents: what do parents think about it?]

Parental care of adolescent children was studied in 501 families who attended the Centre of Preventive Medicine of Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy. The health of their adolescent children was the parents' main concern and they considered morale, hygiene and alimentation as being the most important health determinants. Twenty-eight per cent of the parents indicated that they were anxious about their adolescent children. When they contacted the Centre of Preventive Medicine, parents were mostly seeking a regular check-up and information for their offspring. A correspondence analysis showed a breakdown of the parents into several groups, according to their responses and degree of concern for the health of their adolescents.