Clusters of health behaviours and their relation to body mass index among adolescents in Northern Finland

Abstract

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.

Association Between Psychosocial Problems and Unhealthy Health Behavior Patterns Among Finnish Adolescents

“…Health behavior patterns among 15- to 16-year-old boys and girls participating in the NFBC 1986 Study have been identified previously [ 24 ]. In that particular study, participants completed a questionnaire evaluating the following health behaviors: physical activity, screen time, cigarette smoking, alcohol use, and diet.…”

“…For both genders, a two-cluster solution turned out to be most reliable. A more thorough explanation about the cluster analysis can be found elsewhere [ 24 ].…”

Clustering of Physical Activity, Diet and Sedentary Behavior among Youth from Low-, Middle-, and High-Income Countries: A Scoping Review

“…Forty-two studies were considered to describe the characteristics of the studies. The publication year ranged from 2006 [26,27] to 2019 [28], and the majority included cross-sectional design (n = 26) [6,[23][24][25][26]. The studies were developed in 29 different countries, the majority were carried out in USA (n = 6), Brazil (n = 6), and Australia (n = 4), and five [6,11,34,35,50] provided data from more than one country.…”

Lower parental socioeconomic status in childhood and adolescence predicts unhealthy health behaviour patterns in adolescence in Northern Finland

“…Within the framework of the longitudinal NFBC1986, two clusters of typical health behaviour patterns of 15‐ to 16‐year‐old adolescents have been previously identified for both genders (31). In that particular study, participants completed a questionnaire evaluating the following health behaviours: physical activity, screen time, cigarette smoking, alcohol use and diet.…”

“…A two‐cluster solution turned out to be the most meaningful representation of the study population for both genders. A more detailed description of the analysis can be found in the previous study alluded to (31). All analyses were performed separately according to gender, since the health behaviour clusters were also identified separately for boys and girls.…”