title: Life transitions and relevance of healthy living in late adolescence.
abstract: Using a cross-sectional qualitative design involving focus groups and interviews, we sought to gain a more detailed understanding of adolescents' physical activity, eating habits and health perceptions during the transition from secondary school (or high school) to work. Based on thematic analyses, three themes were extracted: (1) perceptions of lifestyle and health, (2) changes in priorities and (3) passive acceptance of internal and external influences on physical activity and diet. Poor diet and physical inactivity appeared to reflect participants' amotivation towards health behaviours, reluctance to divert from perceived peer norms and efforts to assert independence from parents.
authors.affiliation: Liverpool Hope University, UK.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koehn
authors.affiliation: University of Bath, UK.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gillison
authors.affiliation: University of Bath, UK M.Standage@bath.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Martyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Standage
authors.affiliation: University of the West of England, UK.
authors.forename: Jacqueline
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bailey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet; D015444:Exercise; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D000070497:Healthy Lifestyle; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D036301:Qualitative Research; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: adolescence; diet; eating behaviour; exercise behaviour; lifestyle