Abstract
BackgroundAlthough knowledge on single health-related behaviors and their association with health parameters is available, research on multiple health-related behaviors is needed to understand the interactions among these behaviors. The aims of the study were (a) to identify typical health-related behavior patterns in German adolescents focusing on physical activity, media use and dietary behavior; (b) to describe the socio-demographic correlates of the identified clusters and (c) to study their association with overweight.MethodsWithin the framework of the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS) and the “Motorik-Modul” (MoMo), 1,643 German adolescents (11–17 years) completed a questionnaire assessing the amount and type of weekly physical activity in sports clubs and during leisure time, weekly use of television, computer and console games and the frequency and amount of food consumption. From this data the three indices ‘physical activity’, ‘media use’ and ‘healthy nutrition’ were derived and included in a cluster analysis conducted with Ward’s Method and K-means analysis. Chi-square tests were performed to identify socio-demographic correlates of the clusters as well as their association with overweight.ResultsFour stable clusters representing typical health-related behavior patterns were identified: Cluster 1 (16.2%)—high scores in physical activity index and average scores in media use index and healthy nutrition index; cluster 2 (34.6%)—high healthy nutrition score and below average scores in the other two indices; cluster 3 (18.4%)—low physical activity score, low healthy nutrition score and very high media use score; cluster 4 (30.5%)—below average scores on all three indices. Boys were overrepresented in the clusters 1 and 3, and the relative number of adolescents with low socio-economic status as well as overweight was significantly higher than average in cluster 3.ConclusionsMeaningful and stable clusters of health-related behavior were identified. These results confirm findings of another youth study hence supporting the assumption that these clusters represent typical behavior patterns of adolescents. These results are particularly relevant for the characterization of target groups for primary prevention of lifestyle diseases.
Highlights
Knowledge on single health-related behaviors and their association with health parameters is available, research on multiple health-related behaviors is needed to understand the interactions among these behaviors
Post hoc Scheffé tests showed that the physical activity level of adolescents in cluster 1 (71.11 metabolic equivalent of task (MET)/week) differed significantly (p < .001) from that of adolescents in the other three clusters whose physical activity level was below average
Adolescents in cluster 1 had at least an average healthy nutrition score (53.24) and healthy nutrition scores of adolescents in clusters 3 and 4 were below average (48.72 and 45.79 respectively)
Summary
Knowledge on single health-related behaviors and their association with health parameters is available, research on multiple health-related behaviors is needed to understand the interactions among these behaviors. The aims of the study were (a) to identify typical health-related behavior patterns in German adolescents focusing on physical activity, media use and dietary behavior; (b) to describe the socio-demographic correlates of the identified clusters and (c) to study their association with overweight. Because it is assumed that a person’s health-related lifestyle is a composition of individual choices and social conditions [15], it is important to consider behavior patterns and their socio-demographic correlates. This approach can be used to identify and precisely describe clusters of different behavior patterns
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