Health risk behaviors in teenagers according to gender, age and socioeconomic status

Abstract

Study Design: Cross sectional descriptive school-based study. Study objetive: To identify the isolated and simultaneous proportions of Health Risk Behaviors (HRB) of adolescents from public schools in the city of Curitiba-PR independently of gender, age and economic status. Methodology: The entire sample consisted of 996 secondary and high school students who concluded the study requirements. Gender, age and socioeconomic status were determined by a demographic questionnaire. The Portuguese version of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the Simplified Questionnaire for Food Consumption Assessment Related to Cardiovascular Risk in Adolescents, the Sedentary Activities Questionnaire for Adolescents and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (short version) computed the risk behavior variables. Differences between groups was determined by Chi-square tests with critical value of p<0.05. Results: High proportions of risk behaviors were observed for experimentation (41.5%) and excessive alcohol consumption (28.2%), excessive consumption of foods high in cholesterol (41.6%), excessive screen time (58.5%) and insufficient levels of physical activity (54.9%). From the entire sample, 86.5% presented at least one HRB, 50.75% were classified with 2 or more HRB and 25% had at least 3 HRB. Conclusions: Excessive alcohol consumption, excessive screen time and insufficient physical activity are risk behaviors widely incorporated in the adolescent lifestyle, particularly on those over 14-yearsold. On the other hand, poor diet is a behavior more prevalent in younger adolescents. Boys report more excessive screen time than girls, while females tend to report higher levels of insufficient physical activity. Regardless of gender and economic status, adolescents above 14 years of age presented higher proportions of simultaneous HRB.