Life Satisfaction, Physical Activity and Quality of Life Associated with the Health of School-Age Adolescents

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to understand the Quality of Life Associated with Health (QLAH) of a sample of school-age adolescents, and the existing associations between the latter and other variables, such as family life satisfaction, personal life satisfaction (LS), friendships satisfaction, physical activity with family, friends and personal physical activity. The sample consisted of 1226 Spanish school-age adolescents (50.9% boys and 40.1% girls) with ages between 12 and 16 years old. Several scales that were extracted from the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2016 study, sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO), were used as working instruments in this piece of research. SPSS (24.0) was the software package used to perform the analyses of descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple regression, whereas AMOS (24.0) was used for structural equations. The results reveal a strong association between the physical activity (PA) students undertake (personal, with their families and friends) and life satisfaction, family life satisfaction and satisfaction with the relationships with friends. Additionally, both constructs (physical activity and satisfaction, understood as an indicator of good health) can predict the respondents’ Quality of Life Associated with Health. The variables (QLAH, LS and PA) are interrelated, thus resulting in major practical implications.

Relevant Factors in Adolescent Well-Being: Family and Parental Relationships

“…Parental relationships are also related in a determinant way to the well-being of the surveyed adolescents, as a positive correlation was found between parental relationships and HRQoL, performance and perception of health status. A large body of research supports this idea, confirming the relevance of positive family relationships at home during this stage as a relevant protective factor against risk behaviors and as a factor promoting psychological and social adjustment in young people [ 4 , 19 , 21 , 39 ]. As Alm et al state in their 2019 research, dysfunctional family relationships can have a negative impact on children’s emotional and social competence, which in turn can hinder healthy development and ultimately affect health [ 39 ].…”

“…It is a time of many physical, psychological and social changes to which children must adapt in order to reach the maturity of adulthood [ 2 , 3 ]. The well-being of adolescents depends on multiple factors that can determine their health-related quality of life [ 4 ], their academic performance [ 5 ] and their perception of their health status [ 6 ].…”

“…The factors that determine HRQoL in adolescents have been studied in numerous studies in recent years, most of them finding significant relationships with lifestyle habits: for example, quality of life in adolescence has been associated with physical activity and sedentary lifestyle [ 1 , 4 , 9 , 10 , 11 ] or eating habits [ 12 ]. Wu et al, for example, conducted a systematic review of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies on the subject and found evidence that a higher level of physical activity and less time spent in sedentary behavior are associated with higher HRQoL among the general population of children and adolescents [ 13 ].…”

Fitness Level Differences between Students in Kosovo and Montenegro

“…Furthermore, the results from the research point out that the males have higher body weight and body height, and achieve better results in the tests: standing broad jump, handgrip test, sit-ups in 30 s, bent arm hang, 10 × 5 m shuttle-run, and 20-m endurance shuttle-run, whereas the females achieve better results only in the test sitand-reach. During the whole period of growth between 13th and 15th year, the females are lower and have smaller body weight in comparison to the males [50,51]. Gender disparities in the period of adolescence in combination with the effects of endocrine adaptation (influence of gonadal steroid hormones and the growth hormone) typical for sexual maturing, morphological differences, primarily in body composition (the content of minerals in bones and muscle mass is increased among males, whereas the accumulation of fat around the hips is decreased), functional differences, and physical activity are the main factors for motoric differences in the age between 13 and 15 between males and females.…”

Family Related Variables’ Influences on Adolescents’ Health Based on Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Database, an AI-Assisted Scoping Review, and Narrative Synthesis

“…Analogously, twelve studies employed a cross-sectional design to examine the effects of the satisfaction with family relationships on adolescents’ health. Seven of them considered health behaviours as outcomes, including substance use ( Zaborskis and Sirvyte, 2015 ; García-Moya et al, 2017 ; Sumskas and Zaborskis, 2017 ; Lee et al, 2020 ), physical activity ( Veloso et al, 2012 ; Urchaga et al, 2020 ), and toothbrushing ( Levin and Currie, 2010 ). Five studies investigated the effect on adolescents’ mental health, such as suicide and self-harm ( Samm et al, 2010 ; Zaborskis et al, 2016 ), life satisfaction ( Resnick, 2014 ; Moreno-Maldonado et al, 2020a ; Urchaga et al, 2020 ), emotional wellbeing ( Samm et al, 2010 ; Resnick, 2014 ; Urchaga et al, 2020 ).…”