Relationship of Parental Support on Healthy Habits, School Motivations and Academic Performance in Adolescents

Abstract

The objective of the study was to analyze how parental support relates to the physical activity practice, satisfaction with sports, level of physical activity, academic performance and alcohol consumption. Descriptive cross-sectional study, with 1100 adolescents (12–16 years old), where the factors related to parental support, gender and age acted as independent variables, and satisfaction with sport, level of physical activity (PA), academic performance and alcohol consumption acted as dependent variables. A multivariate statistical analysis was conducted. Adolescents with little parental support show (p < 0.001) more boredom, less fun, worse academic performance and higher alcohol consumption. Gender shows differences (p < 0.001) experiencing girls more boredom, less fun, less PA practice and higher academic performance than boys. Age establishes (p < 0.01) that older adolescents (15–16 years old) experience more boredom, less fun, less PA practice, lower academic performance and higher alcohol consumption than young boys and girls (12–14 years old). Parental support towards PA practice improves healthy habits, benefits academic performance and school satisfaction with physical and sports activity.

The Influence of Physical Activity, Diet, Weight Status and Substance Abuse on Students’ Self-Perceived Health

“…Even for overweight teenagers, the influence of active friends is stronger than the time they spend using screens [75]. The importance of parental support in the regular practice of PA should not be forgotten [2].…”

“…Therefore, adopting an effective health improvement strategy, through the promotion of healthy habits such as the practice of PA, the prevention or abandonment of the abuse of substances, as well as improvements at the psychosocial level, it is important to take into account the determining importance of parental support that parents offer their children [2,3].…”

“…The alcohol and tobacco consumption was studied through an adapted version of the State Survey on Drug Use in Secondary Education [59], within the National Plan on Drugs (PNSD, for its Spanish initials). In line with other authors [60], the general categories of alcohol consumption (α = 0.74) and tobacco consumption (α = 0.77) were used, establishing three possible answer choices (cut-off points): usual consumption (0), occasional consumption (1) or no consumption (2).…”

“…Teenagers who perceive less parental support have higher alcohol consumption, experience less fun with physical-sports practice at school and their academic performance deteriorates. On the opposite side, adolescents who have greater support from their parents towards the practice of PA improve their healthy habits, acquire greater school satisfaction with respect to physical education [2] and benefit academic performance [2,3], positively relating these parameters to parental and school adjustment [3].…”

Predicting Injury Status in Adolescent Dancers Involved in Different Dance Styles: A Prospective Study

“…The importance of participating in sufficient physical activity (PA) in childhood and adolescence and the benefits of PA on physical health, mental health, academic performance, and social well-being have been well proven [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]. However, the decrease in participation in PA in adolescence is recognized as a global problem, which is additionally important since a decrease in PA may extend into adult life [ 6 , 7 , 8 ]. Despite the fact that Slovenian children and adolescents are among the most physically active in the world, their levels of PA have decreased in recent years, and this problem is especially exacerbated during adolescence [ 9 ].…”