Abstract
Adolescence is a rapid life stage requiring special attention wherein personal autonomy is developed to govern independent lifestyles. Unhealthy lifestyles are integral to prevailing adolescent physical inactivity patterns. Understudied 16–18-year-olds were investigated to establish physical activity prevalences and influencing health-related lifestyle factors. Adolescents were recruited randomly across 2017–2019 from Farnborough College of Technology and North Kent College, UK. Demographic and health-related lifestyle information were gathered anonymously and analysed using SAS® 9.4 software. Among the 414 adolescents included (48.3% male and 51.7% female), the mean (standard deviation (SD)) age was 16.9 (0.77). Approximately 15.2% smoked and 20.8% were overweight/obese. There were 54.8% perceiving themselves unfit and 33.3% spent >4 h/day on leisure-time screen-based activity. Around 80.4% failed to meet the recommended fruit/vegetable daily intake and 90.1% failed to satisfy UK National Physical Activity Guidelines, particularly females (p = 0.0202). Physical activity levels were significantly associated with gender, body mass index, smoking status, leisure sedentary screen-time, fruit/vegetable consumption and fitness perceptions. Those who were female, overweight/obese, non-smoking, having poor fitness perceptions, consuming low fruit/vegetables and engaging in excess screen-based sedentariness were the groups with lowest physical activity levels. Steering physical activity-oriented health interventions toward these at-risk groups in colleges may reduce the UK’s burden of adolescent obesity.
Highlights
Adolescence is a fast-paced yet crucial life stage which bridges the transition between the dependencies in childhood to the independencies in adulthood wherein behaviours are effortlessly influenced
Adolescence is a rapid stage of life requiring special attention [8], wherein personal autonomy is developed for the governance of independent lifestyles
As we found that 60.8% of students were active yet failed to meet National Physical Activity Guidelines (NPAG), we suggest that the intention for physical activity is prevalent, though they fail to reap the health benefit due to insufficient motivation and time
Summary
Adolescence is a fast-paced yet crucial life stage which bridges the transition between the dependencies in childhood to the independencies in adulthood wherein behaviours are effortlessly influenced. Cultivation of an unhealthy lifestyle during this period presents a major global health challenge in part owing to the cementing of such behaviours into adulthood [1]. Chronic health-deteriorating behaviours manifest as obesity and cardiovascular complications which comprises the leading cause of mortality worldwide (ischaemic heart disease), thereby restricting longevity [2]. Insufficient physical activity, sedentariness and a poor diet are principle mediators of an obesogenic lifestyle [3]. The UK government has defined the National Physical Activity. Guidelines (NPAG) for 5–18-year-olds, which advocate at least 60 min of physical activity per day (7 h/week), for an optimal health advantage [4]. Comprehensive studies report that the NPAGs were largely unmet among those aged 11–15 years old [5] and ~3 million of ≥18-year-olds in
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