Co-occurrence of health risk behaviors and the family context among Brazilian adolescents, National Survey of School Health (2015).

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the association between the co-occurrence of risk behaviors (RB) and the family context in Brazilian adolescents.

METHODS

Cross-sectional study on 101,534 students from the 9th grade of elementary school in the National Survey of School Health - PeNSE 2015. The co-occurrence of RB was estimated by the sum of the presence of sedentary behavior, low fruit consumption, regular consumption of alcohol and tobacco. Prevalence was assessed using the Venn diagram and multivariate analysis by the ordinal logistic regression model of partial proportional odds.

RESULTS

8.8% of the adolescents did not have RB; 34.5% had one; 42.7% had two; and 14.1%, three or four. The most prevalent combinations were between sedentary behavior and low fruit consumption (33.8%); sedentary behavior with low fruit consumption and regular consumption of alcohol (9.5%). Those who were more likely to present co-occurrence had mothers with higher education level in all models, did not live with their fathers [0, 1 and 2 vs. 3: (OR = 1.21; 95%CI 1.07-1.37)], had parents who sometimes, never or rarely understood their problems and concerns [0, 1 and 2 vs. 3: (OR = 1.62; 95%CI 1.49-1.76)] and monitored their homework [0, 1 and 2 vs. 3: (OR = 1.77; 95%CI 1.62-1.93)]; and had meals with parents or guardians <4 days/week for the three models.

CONCLUSION

Health RB tend to cluster among Brazilian adolescents and are related to characteristics of the family context. These findings point to the need for health promotion actions focusing on simultaneity and not in isolation.