Physical activity and overweight/obesity among academic stressed adolescents

Abstract

Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between physical activity level and overweight/obesity among academically-stressed Chinese middle school students. Methods: One thousand eight hundred and ten (1,810) high school students were recruited from the 10th-12th grades (805 girls and 1005 boys) from a high-school located in Jiangxi Province of China. Students’ risk behaviors were assessed using the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. The Kruskal-Wallis H test and ordinal regression model analysis were employed to identify the relationship between physical activity, academic stress and overweight/obesity. Results: The Kruskal-Wallis H test and ordinal regression model analysis indicated a statistically significant correlation between academic stress and overweight/obesity among Chinese adolescents, and perhaps physical inactivity is a mediator of this association. Conclusions: Low physical activity and increasing obesity trajectories among Chinese high school adolescents have become a concern in China; thus, it is imperative to promote participation in physical activity and to build a long-standing mechanism to improve the overall health condition of youths.