Quality of life and adiposity in adolescents: Direct and indirect effects

Abstract

This paper aimed to analyze the direct and indirect effects of adiposity and factors related to adolescents’ quality of life. This is a cross-sec-tional study with 635 adolescents (10-16 years) from public schools in Montes Claros-MG, Brazil. Anthropometric data, physical activity (PA), inadequate dietary habits, body image, and quality of life (QoL) of adolescents were collected. A structural equation modeling was performed. The va-riables addressed as constructs were adiposity and inadequate dietary habits, the exploratory varia-bles were PA and body image, and the outcome variable was QoL. The total effect of PA-media-ted adiposity on QoL was positive and significant (β=0.213; p<0.05), in contrast to the total effect mediated by inadequate dietary habits on QoL, which was negative and significant (β=-0.150; p<0.05). The direct effect of PA on QoL was positive and significant (β=0.209; p<0.001). No body image-related effects were observed. The effects of adiposity on adolescents’ QoL tend to improve when mediated by PA, and they worsen when mediated by inadequate dietary habits. The effects of PA tend to improve the QoL of adolescents.