Relationship between family functioning and lifestyle in school-age adolescents

Abstract

ObjectiveRisk behaviours in adolescents can lead to serious disorders, therefore the objectives of this work are to characterise the lifestyles of teenagers about substance use, sex, and road safety, and to meet socio-demographic factors associated with these. MethodA cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational study was conducted with 204 school-age-children from 12 to 17 years, in 2013. They were given a validated questionnaire about sociodemographic, family functioning, and lifestyles such as substance abuse, sexual intercourse and road safety. A descriptive and multivariate analysis was performed by using multiple linear regression in the case of quantitative dependent variables, and binary logistic regression models in the case of binary categories. Data analysis was based on SPSS 20.0, with a significance level of p<0.05. Results32.4% of students had smoked, and 61.3% had drunk alcohol. 26% of adolescent between 14 and 17 years had sexual intercourse; the average age of the first sexual intercourse was 14.9 years. 85.2% used condoms. 94.6% respected traffic signs, 77.5% used to wear a seat belt and 81.9% a helmet. Family functioning, as protective factor, was the variable more frequently associated to risk behaviour: smoking (OR=7.06, p=0.000), alcohol drinking (OR=3.97, p=0.008), sexual intercourse (OR=3.67, p=0.041), and road safety (β=1.82, p=0.000). ConclusionsAccording the results, age, gender and family functioning are the main factors associated with the adoption of risk behaviours. This information is important for the development of public health policies, for instance health promotion at schools.