Fysisk aktivitet, matvanor, övervikt och självkänsla bland ungdomar

Fysisk aktivitet, matvanor, övervikt och självkänsla bland ungdomar
12
Summary
The foundations for people’s physical and mental health are laid in childhood.
Secure and favourable conditions during childhood and adolescence,
good eating habits and increased physical activity are three of the eleven
public health objectives set by the Swedish Parliament in 2003 as part of a
new public health policy. It was determined that special attention should be
paid to the mental health of children and young people, and to their health
behaviors.
The investigation called the “Community-based study of physical activity,
life style and self-esteem in Swedish school children” (COMPASS) was
embarked upon in 2000. Its aim was to survey and analyze the relations
among young people’s level of physical activity, their self-esteem, eating
habits, body size, ethnicity, and socioeconomic circumstances. Further investigated
were how body size, level of physical activity and eating habits related
to circumstances in the family, the school, participation in organized and
unorganized sports, geographic area and infrastructure, and also to policy
and decisions made at the municipality level.
The target group for COMPASS comprised all boys and girls in School
Year 8, starting autumn 2000, and in School Year 9, starting autumn 2001,
in municipal schools in south-west Greater Stockholm. Data collection proceeded
from the autumn of 2000 through to the spring of 2002.The study
covered the municipalities of Botkyrka, Huddinge, Nykvarn, Salem and
Södertälje, and the sub-municipal administrations of Hägersten, Liljeholmen,
Skärholmen and Älvsjö, all within Stockholm County.
Data for this school-based study were gathered from registers, questionnaires
administered to pupils, a questionnaire to school personnel, and a
questionnaire to officers with responsibility for policy and planning of services
within municipalities and sub-municipal administrations.The adolescents
also participated in a health examination, from which information on
body measurements and quantity of body fat was obtained.
The target group consisted of 4,188 pupils from all 44 municipal schools
in the study area. For 3,142 (75%) of these individuals there was full information
concerning physical activity and body mass index (BMI).The study
group comprised these 3,142 adolescents, for 2,604 of whom there was
complete information on an overall scale measuring self-esteem.The mean
age was 15.2 years. Educational level of the mother was used as a measure
of socioeconomic position. The participation rate was somewhat greater
among adolescents with a higher educated mother than among the offspring
of a mother with lower education.