A Composite Measure of a Healthy Lifestyle: A Study from the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children Survey - The 6th Congress of Exercise and Sport Sciences

Adilson Marques ¹ Riki Tesler ² Joana Bordado ¹ Yolanda Demetriou ³ David Sturm ³ Margarida Matos ¹

¹Faculty of Human Kinetics, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
²Faculty of Health Science, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
³Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

This study aimed to create a composite measure of a healthy lifestyle for adolescents, and analyze its relationship to sociodemographic factors.

Data were from the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children 2014 International Survey. Participants were 167,021 adolescents (48.2% boys and 51.8 girls), aged 10-16 years, from 38 countries.

Five healthy behaviors used in this study included engaging in ≥60 minutes of physical activity every day, daily consumption of fruit and vegetables, spending 2 hours daily immersed in screen-based behaviors, and abstinence from alcohol as well as from tobacco products. Only 1.9% (95% CI: 1.4%, 2.3%) of adolescents had a healthy lifestyle, achieving all five healthy behaviors. In contrast, 4.2% (95% CI: 3.7%, 4.6%) reported none of the healthy behaviors.

Despite the benefits of engaging in physical activity, engaging in low levels of screen-based activity, regular consumption of fruit and vegetables, and abstaining from alcohol and cigarettes, only 2% of adolescents could be classified as having a healthy lifestyle.