A new PhD thesis defended at University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), recommends starting preventing bad lifestyle habits even before the age of 13.
Bad eating habits, alcohol abuse and sedentary lifestyles are all unhealthy life habits that are very tempting ever since the early adolescence, and are very frequent mostly among women, and young people aged 19 to 26.
Researcher Marta Arrue, author of the thesis, says that prevention campaigns should consider these groups and also extend to those less than 13 years old.
Besides presenting the vices of life, this paper carried out a co-relational analysis between them and the psychological state of the study participants.
The results support the idea that teenagers and young people with healthy lifestyles have a higher self-esteem, they feel good psychologically, are more satisfied with the way they look and present fewer psychopathological indicators.
There is a very strong connection between habits and psychological condition, since good habits benefit psychological health and when people feel good about themselves, they continue their healthy lifestyle.
When building prevention campaigns, the psychological factor should be considered, of course, but the cultural and economic factors should not be ignored, as well as the legal ones (that is supposed to protect minors from tobacco and alcohol).
Ms Arrue studied 2,018 young people from the the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (CAV-EAE) who were asked to fill in several questionnaires.
The gathered data, allowed her to analyze the life habits of the participants, according to sex and age – adolescents from 13 to 17, and young people from 18 to 26.
The study concluded that young people have a far riskier behavior than expected, and they do not fully realize it, most of them thinking that they are healthier than they actually are.
The more dangerous habits seem to be bad eating, alcohol abuse, sedentarism, risks involving sexual relations, smoking and taking drugs and also a very low quality or insufficient sleep.
When considering the age criterion, early adolescence is the most dangerous period, except for sleeping – a problem that worsens over the years.
So, special attention needs to be given to 16-year-old teens, since this age represents the no-turning-back point for them.
As for observations linked to gender, women seem to engage in more riskier behaviors than men, their weak points being sedentarism, tobacco, sleep, risk of becoming pregnant and sexually transmitted diseases.
Men, on the other hand, excel in alcohol abuse, illegal drugs and bad eating.
It seems that the risk factors are linked, like physical activity or lack thereof, to the consumption or otherwise of alcohol and tobacco.
Ms Arrue explains that this means that a single risk behavior has its importance and should not be ignored, otherwise it may carry others with it.
On a more positive note, the same observation also means that a single good behavior could trigger other healthy lifestyle habits.
The PhD thesis is entitled 'Lifestyle habits and psychological factors in adolescence and youth in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (CAV-EAE)'.
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