Healthy or Unhealthy? The Cocktail of Health-Related Behavior Profiles in Spanish Adolescents

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Aug 29;16(17):3151. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16173151.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify the prevalence and clustering of health-related behaviors in Spanish adolescents and to examine their association with sex, body mass index (BMI), different types of sedentary screen time, and adherence to 24-hour movement guidelines. A final sample of 173 students (M = 12.99 ± 0.51) participated in this study. Cluster analysis was conducted based on five health-related behaviors: PA and sedentary time derived from accelerometers, as well as healthy diet, sedentary screen time, and sleep duration derived from self-reported scales. Recommendations for 24-hour movement guidelines (i.e., physical activity (PA), screen time, and sleep duration) were analyzed both independently and combined. A total of 8.9% of the sample did not meet any of the guidelines, whereas 72.3%, 17.3%, and 1.7% of the sample met 1, 2, or all 3 guidelines, respectively. Six distinct profiles were identified, most of them showing the co-occurrence of healthy- and unhealthy-related behaviors. Given that most of the adolescents failed to meet the combination of PA, screen time, and sleep duration guidelines, these findings suggest the necessity to implement school-based interventions that target multiple health behaviors, especially because (un)healthy behaviors do not always cluster in the same direction.

Keywords: body mass index; cluster; diet; health behavior; physical activity; screen time; sedentary time; sex; sleep.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adolescent Behavior*
  • Body Mass Index
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Exercise
  • Female
  • Health Behavior*
  • Health Status
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Prevalence
  • Screen Time
  • Sedentary Behavior
  • Sex Factors
  • Sleep
  • Spain