Health promotion lifestyle profile scores are not associatedwith obesity in high school students.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Obesity is a cause of preventable morbidity and mortality with an increasing prevalence. Health promoting lifestyle activities maintain or improve an individual's health and in adolescence many habits are configured. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of overweight and obesity among adolescents and the relation between obesity and health promoting behaviors.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This is a cross-sectional study including 848 high school students aged 15-17. All students were administered a questionnaire including the Health Promotion Life-Style Profile Scale. Weight and height were measured and body mass index was calculated. Descriptive analysis, Pearson's chi-square test, Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests, and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

Of the included students, 80.8% (n = 685) had normal ranges of body mass index, 10.1% (n = 86) were overweight, and 9.1% (n = 77) were obese. The Health Promotion Life-Style Profile Scale average score was found to be 126.7 ± 20.4. There was no significant difference between Health Promotion Life-Style Profile Scale and obesity (P = 0.921).

CONCLUSION

Adolescence is an era of development when individuals start to implement their own features to life. According to this study adolescents do not perform health promoting lifestyles whether they are obese or not.