Aims To identify clusters of health behaviours among Finnish adolescents and examine whether these clusters are associated with body mass index (BMI). Methods The data, drawn from the prospective population‐based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986, comprised a total of 7182 adolescents who replied to a follow‐up postal questionnaire at the age 15 to 16. The adolescents were asked about multiple health behaviours, such as physical activity, screen time, cigarette smoking, alcohol use and diet. Adolescents who answered the questions concerning all of these variables were included in the study, yielding a final sample of 4305 subjects. K‐means cluster analysis was performed to identify group of adolescents with similar health behaviours. Chi‐squared tests were performed to analyse the association between the clusters and BMI. Results Two clusters – Healthy Lifestyle and Unhealthy Lifestyle – were identified for both genders. The values of all the studied variables differed significantly between the clusters identified for both boys and girls. No significant relationship between the identified clusters and BMI was found for either boys or girls. Conclusions It is important to consider multiple lifestyle‐related behaviours and trying to identify groups that present probability for developing lifestyle diseases.

The socioeconomic status of parents is reportedly closely related to the digital screen usage and physical inactivity levels of children and adolescents. Internalizing and externalizing behavior characteristics may be linked to these associations and explain them. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of parents' socioeconomic status (SES) on youths' total screen time along with physical inactivity through internalizing and externalizing behavior characteristics. Thus, we examined associations between parents' socioeconomic status (using scores based on several indicators) and adolescents' total digital screen exposure and physical inactivity level, together with the potentially predicting role of the adolescents' internalizing and externalizing behavior. For this, we assessed the internalizing and externalizing problem characteristics, total screen time exposure, physical inactivity level and parental socioeconomic status of a large cohort sample of Finnish adolescents (the Northern Birth Cohort, 1986 comprised 2899 males and 3059 females). The present study includes data collected in two phases, in 1985-1986 and 2000-2001. Path modeling suggests that a low SES of parents was directly associated with adolescents' physical inactivity level, while externalizing characteristics were a significant and additional contributing factor in adolescents' level of screen exposure in both genders. Gender moderated the relationship between adolescents' internalizing and externalizing characteristics and physical inactivity levels. The results also suggest that parents' socioeconomic status constitutes a risk factor in relation to media screen exposure only in female adolescents. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Objectives To determine the association between parental socioeconomic status in childhood and adolescence and unhealthy health behaviour patterns among adolescents in Northern Finland. Methods The sample, drawn from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 Study, consisted of 15‐ to 16‐year‐old adolescents (n = 4305). Data on socioeconomic status and health behaviours were based on questionnaires collected from cohort members and their parents during the former’s childhood and adolescence. Logistic regression served to assess the association. Results Controlling for all other factors in the model, several socioeconomic factors were found to be significant predictors of unhealthy health behaviour patterns. In childhood, father’s low and medium education for boys, and mother’s low or medium education as well as fathers’ unemployment for girls predicted greater likelihood of engaging in unhealthy behaviour patterns. For both genders, having a stay‐at‐home mother in childhood (and for boys also in adolescence) protected from unhealthy health behaviour patterns. For boys, mother’s and for girls, fathers’ low occupational education in adolescence increased the risk of developing unhealthy patterns. Conclusions In the development of effective health prevention strategies, it is important to identify children and adolescents who are at risk of developing lifestyle diseases.

The aim of the study was to investigate how psychosocial problems in childhood and adolescence associate with an unhealthy health behavior pattern among adolescents in Northern Finland. The study population consisted of 4350 participants, drawn from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 Study. Health behavior patterns were assessed in adolescence and psychosocial problems in childhood and adolescence. Logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the associations. Several psychosocial problems predicted greater likelihood of engaging in unhealthy health behavior pattern. Externalizing problems in childhood predicted greater likelihood of engaging in unhealthy behavior patterns for girls. For both genders, externalizing problems and inattention in adolescence were associated with unhealthy health behavior patterns. Boys and girls with externalizing problems both in childhood and adolescence had an increased risk of unhealthy patterns. Psychosocial problems contribute to unhealthy lifestyles and should therefore be acknowledged when designing and targeting health promotion strategies aimed at adolescents.