Leisure practice in adolescents and associated factors: implications for care

Abstract

Objective: To relate the performance of leisure activity practices with quality of life, subjective well-being, anxiety, and depression in adolescents. Methods: This is a quantitative, cross-sectional, analytical study, developed with 272 high school adolescents from three public schools in a center-western capital. Data collection occurred in May 2019 through selfapplication of four instruments: subjective well-being scale, hospital anxiety and depression scale, kidscren-52 quality of life questionnaire and sociodemographic questionnaire. The association among the independent variables was verified by Student's t-test and Fischer's chi-square test. Results: Almost half of adolescents (49.6%) performed some leisure activity and it was verified lower scores for depression (p=0.008), higher in the positive affects of subjective well-being (p=<0.001), and for some dimensions of quality of life, such as health and physical activity (p=<0.001), feelings (p=0.0046), emotional status (p=0.033), autonomy and free time (p=0.007), financial aspect (p=0.001) and friends and social support (p=0.002). There was no significant association between leisure activity and anxiety scores, negative affects and life satisfaction. Conclusion: The practice of leisure activities by adolescents is low and is associated with lower scores for depression and higher scores for some dimensions of quality of life and subjective well-being.