Abstract
BackgroundLack of regular physical activity, high sedentary behavior and presence of unbalanced alimentary practices are attitudes associated with an inadequate lifestyle among female adolescents.Objectiveto assess the lifestyle of female adolescents based on measurements of behavioral variables.MethodsCross-sectional study with 405 female adolescents between 14 and 19 years old, resident and attending public schools in Viçosa (state of Minas Gerais). Their lifestyle was analyzed by the Physical Activity Recall, number of steps, screen time (ST), cellphone time (CT), sitting time, food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and alcohol and tobacco consumption. With multiple correspondence analysis it was possible to observe dispersion and approximation of the variables’ categories. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used for modeling the “lifestyle” variable, having been conducted in the poLCA (Polychromous Variable Latent Class Analysis) package of the R statistical software.ResultsThe mean age was 15.92 ± 1.27 years. Most of the adolescents were considered physically inactive (78%) and with low number of steps (82.57%); 41.45% reported not performing Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activities (MVPA) adequately. Sedentary behavior was found high when assessing ST (72.90%) and CT (65.31%). It was found the best fitted latent class model for the lifestyle (p-G2 = 0.055, p-χ2 = 0.066) featured three latent classes and one covariate (alcohol): Class 1, ‘Inactive and Sedentary’ (γ = 77.5%); Class 2, ‘Inactive and Non-sedentary lifestyle (γ=16.31%); and Class 3, ‘Active and sedentary’ (γ=6.19%). Female adolescents that had ‘never consumed alcohol’ were 2.26 times as likely (log OR = 0.8174; p = 0.033) to belong to class 3 (Active & Sedentary lifestyle) than to class 1 (Inactive & Sedentary lifestyle).ConclusionLatent class analysis model with five manifest variable (MVPA, number of steps, ST, sitting time and number of meals) and alcohol consumption like covariate showed itself to be an accurate and objective method in the assessment of female adolescents’ lifestyle. Female adolescents that had ‘never consumed alcohol’ were more as likely to belong to class ‘Active & Sedentary lifestyle’ than to class Inactive & Sedentary lifestyle. An inactive and sedentary lifestyle is coupled to other unhealthy behaviors during adolescence, possibly carrying over into adult life.
Highlights
Lack of regular physical activity, high sedentary behavior and presence of unbalanced alimentary practices are attitudes associated with an inadequate lifestyle among female adolescents
Female adolescents that had ‘never consumed alcohol’ were more as likely to belong to class ‘Active & Sedentary lifestyle’ than to class Inactive & Sedentary lifestyle
Of the 75 excluded girls, 10 reported having undergone menarche at least one previous year, 12 reported that they could not do physical activity because of medical recommendations, 17 were using recent contraceptive or some medication that could alter the functioning of metabolism, 16 did not deliver correct the terms of assent and concern and 10 participants declare that they are participating in another research project
Summary
Lack of regular physical activity, high sedentary behavior and presence of unbalanced alimentary practices are attitudes associated with an inadequate lifestyle among female adolescents. Lack of regular physical activity, increase in sedentary behavior and presence of unrecommendable, unbalanced alimentary practices are examples of attitudes associated with an inadequate lifestyle among adolescents, due to the link with obesity, risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases and psychosocial problems [3,4,5]. Over half of all adolescents, in general, do not reach the minimum daily recommendation of 60 min of moderate and vigorous physical activities (MVPA) [6] This prevalence is yet higher among female individuals in the late phase of adolescence, setting in which physical inactivity may reach 70% [7]
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