Alcohol, tobacco and other drugs in school-age girls: relation to age and physical activity levels

Abstract

Adopt an active lifestyle and healthy helps in preventing various diseases and risk behaviors. The aim of this study was to identify the level of physical activity (PAL) and check its influence on the age and the consumption of licit and illicit drugs in school females. Study participants were 572 girls aged between 11 and 18 years (14.6 ± 2.1years) of schools in the city of León-Spain. To assess the NAF it was used the Spanish version (Assessment Questionnaire Physical Activity) of the Four-by-One-Day Physical Activity Questionnaire. For consumer habits the Inventory Health Behavior in School was used. A significant percentage of students (68.2%) were inactive. By separately analyzing the weekdays and the weekend, this percentage was 50.1% and 82.1%, respectively. Regardless of the day of the week, physical activity is reduced with age and the consumption of all types of drugs is increased (p=0.001). The degree of physical activity was associated significantly with age (χ2=25.109, p=0.003) and alcohol consumption (χ2=12.993, p=0.005), but not with tobacco (χ2=6.953, p=0.073), and not with the consumption of illicit drugs (χ2=2.145, p=0.54). In conclusion, the data in this study indicate the existence of an inverse relationship between the level of physical activity of school females with age and alcohol consumption.