Relieving the pressure? The role of physical activity in the relationship between school-related stress and adolescent health complaints.
The present study includes a Norwegian sample of 15-year-old students (N = 1,670) and is part of a World Health Organization cross-national survey, Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (Currie, 1998). The objective was to examine the relationship between school-related stress, leisure time physical activity, and adolescent health complaints. Physical activity was also examined as a moderating variable in the relationship between school-related stress and health complaints. The results showed that high levels of complaints were associated in a linear relationship with high levels of school-related stress and low levels of leisure time physical activity. Reports of complaints were more closely related to stress for adolescents with low levels of physical activity; thus, physical activity seems to moderate the relationship between school-related stress and health complaints.
Haugland
Siren
S
Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Norway. siren.haugland@isf.uib.no
Wold
Bente
B
Torsheim
Torbjoern
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007899:Leisure Activities; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D012574:Schools; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control