Tracking of physical activity from adolescence to adulthood: a population-based study

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between regular physical activity in adolescence and leisure-time physical activity in adulthood, with emphasis on gender differences. METHODS: A population-based cross-sectional study was carried out in Pelotas, Southern Brazil, in 2003. A representative sample of households was selected in multiple stages and subjects aged 20-59 years were interviewed. Leisure-time physical activity was evaluated using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Data on adolescent physical activity were based on subjects' recall. RESULTS: Of 2,577 subjects interviewed, 27.5% were classified as adequately active, and 54.9% reported regular physical activity in adolescence. Subjects who engaged in regular physical activity during adolescence were more likely to be adequately active in adulthood (adjusted prevalence ratio 1.42; 95% CI: 1.23; 1.65). This effect was stronger in women (adjusted prevalence ratio: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.22; 1.86) than men (adjusted prevalence ratio: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.10; 1.67). CONCLUSIONS: Promoting physical activity in school age may be a successful intervention against the epidemic of adult inactivity. Although women were less likely to report regular physical activity in adolescence, the effect of this experience on adult behavior was stronger than in men.     

Embedded health behaviors from adolescence to adulthood: the impact of tobacco

Prevention of cancer risk behaviors before they become embedded in an individual's life is crucial. Health-related behaviors should be viewed for their embeddedness, critical aspects of which are (a) the complexity of the behavior itself; (.b) factors, both biological and psychological, within the individual communicator; (c) and external situational or sociocultural factors. The more extensively a behavior is embedded, the more difficult it will be to alter. Relative levels of embeddedness of the risk behavior and its entanglement with other nonrisky behaviors will evolve and change throughout one's life course. Smoking across the life span provides an excellent example of a thoroughly integrated, embedded behavior. How smoking is embedded with other behaviors changes from adolescence, where biological factors may be less salient and habit strength less pronounced, through adulthood, where habit strength is greater but health concerns are a more predictive factor. Researchers can produce more focused communication interventions by examining how health-endangering behaviors are embedded among benign behaviors or among other potentially dangerous behaviors. Ideally, the pattern of health behavior embeddedness should be analyzed prior to developing intervention communication strategies.     

Health behaviours and health in adolescence as predictors of educational level in adulthood: a follow-up study from Finland

A longitudinal study design is used to find out whether health and health behaviours at age 12-16 predict educational level in early adulthood. The purpose is to study direct (based on health) and indirect (based on health behaviours) health-related selection mechanisms in adolescence. These mechanisms contribute to the allocation of people into various educational positions and thus to the creation of socio-economic health differences in adulthood.Baseline data at age 12-16 from the Adolescent Health and Lifestyle Survey (Finland) in 1981, 1983 and 1985 were linked with data on highest attained education at age 27-33, obtained from the Register of Completed Education in 1998. In the baseline surveys, all 12-, 14- and 16-year-olds born within a specified range of birth dates in July 1964, 1966, 1968, or 1970 were included in the samples (N=11149). The response rate in the mailed surveys varied between 74% and 88% in boys and between 85% and 92% in girls. Associations between baseline variables and attained educational level were assessed by polychotomous logistic regression analysis.Health-compromising behaviours and poor perceived health in adolescence predicted low educational level in adulthood. Several behaviours had independent associations with attained educational level, while associations between health and educational level were mostly accounted for by school achievement and sociodemographic background, which were strong and independent predictors of educational level. The study indicates that in adolescence, indirect selection based on health behaviours, rather than direct selection by perceived health, contributes to the production of socio-economic health differences.     

Dieting and disordered eating behaviors from adolescence to young adulthood: findings from a 10-year longitudinal study

Background

Disordered eating behaviors are prevalent in adolescence and can have harmful consequences. An important question is whether use of these behaviors in adolescence sets the pattern for continued use into young adulthood.

Objective

To examine the prevalence and tracking of dieting, unhealthy and extreme weight control behaviors, and binge eating from adolescence to young adulthood.

Design

Population-based, 10-year longitudinal study (Project EAT-III: Eating Among Teens and Young Adults, 1999-2010).

Participants/setting

The study population included 2,287 young adults (55% girls, 52% nonwhite). The sample included a younger group (mean age 12.8±0.7 years at baseline and 23.2±1.0 years at follow-up) and an older group (mean age 15.9±0.8 at baseline and 26.2±0.9 years at follow-up).

Statistical analyses performed

Longitudinal trends in prevalence of behaviors were tested using generalized estimating equations. Tracking of behaviors were estimated using the relative risk of behaviors at follow-up given presence at baseline.

Results

In general, the prevalence of dieting and disordered eating was high and remained constant, or increased, from adolescence to young adulthood. Furthermore, behaviors tended to track within individuals and, in general, participants who engaged in dieting and disordered eating behaviors during adolescence were at increased risk for these behaviors 10 years later. Tracking was particularly consistent for the older girls and boys transitioning from middle adolescence to middle young adulthood.

Conclusions

Study findings indicate that disordered eating behaviors are not just an adolescent problem, but continue to be prevalent among young adults. The tracking of dieting and disordered eating within individuals suggests that early use is likely to set the stage for ongoing use. Findings suggest a need for both early prevention efforts before the onset of harmful behavioral patterns as well as ongoing prevention and treatment interventions to address the high prevalence of disordered eating throughout adolescence and young adulthood.     

Psychiatric symptoms in adolescence as predictors of obesity in early adulthood: a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the longitudinal relationship between psychopathology and obesity in young adulthood. METHODS: More than 700 youth in a population-based sample were psychiatrically assessed in 1983 (mean age = 14 years) and 1992 (mean age = 22 years). Self-reported body mass index (BMI) in 1992 was regressed on measures of depression and conduct disorder as well as a set of covariates including indices of physical health, social class, intelligence, and cigarette and alcohol use. Associations were examined with BMI treated as a continuous variable and with a binary index of obesity derived from the BMI distribution in each gender. RESULTS: BMI in young adults was positively related to a number of covariates. With all covariates controlled, BMI was inversely related to adult depressive symptoms in males but not females. BMI was positively related to adolescent symptoms of conduct disorder in both sexes. Similar associations were found between psychiatric symptoms and obesity. CONCLUSIONS: Conduct disorder symptoms in adolescence predicted BMI and obesity in early adulthood. These associations remained after controlling for factors that can affect the association between psychopathology and obesity.     

Longitudinal impact of frequent geographic relocation from adolescence to adulthood on psychosocial stress and vital exhaustion at ages 32 and 42 years: the amsterdam growth and health longitudinal study

Background: We assessed mobility in different life stages over a 29-year period from adolescence through adulthood and its correlation with psychosocial stress and vital exhaustion at ages 32 and 42 years.Methods: Data were derived from the Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study, an observational longitudinal study of 420 boys and girls from age 13 to 42 years. Measurements included cumulative frequency of geographic relocation (CFGR), psychosocial stress (measured by a Dutch scale of experienced stress, VOEG-13), vital exhaustion (measured by the Maastricht Questionnaire, MQ), demographics, socioeconomic status, and other background characteristics.Results: From 1976 to 2006, total CFGR was 3.56 ± 1.89 (range 0-13). Frequent geographic relocation during 2 life stages (age 22-32 years and 33-42 years) was significantly interrelated; however, this was not evident at age 13 to 21 years, which suggests a unique exposure to relocation during adolescence and youth. After adjusting for anticipated confounders, higher cumulative frequencies of residential changes during adolescence and youth were markedly associated with psychosocial stress and vital exhaustion at ages 32 and 42 years.Conclusions: Frequent geographic relocation during adolescence and youth was an indicator of psychosocial stress and vital exhaustion in the transition to middle adulthood. Further consideration of the pathways in this web of causation may aid in stress prevention and minimize negative consequences.     

Residential instability during adolescence and health and wellbeing in adulthood: A longitudinal outcome-wide study

Although prior research suggests that residential instability during adolescence can have long-term impacts on health and wellbeing, few studies have identified a robust comparison group and considered a broad set of outcomes. To address these knowledge gaps, we examined the associations between residential instability during adolescence and a wide range of adult health and wellbeing outcomes using an outcome-wide design in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. We defined residential instability as two or more moves between Waves I and II (ages 13–18 years). We assessed outcomes at ages 33–43 years (Wave V) in nine domains: biomarkers, physical health, health behaviors, psychological distress, psychological wellbeing, social behaviors, social wellbeing, trauma/victimization, and socioeconomic attainment. Results of doubly-robust targeted maximum likelihood estimation, adjusting for pre-exposure values of the outcome variables and cofounders (Wave I), showed little evidence of an association for certain outcomes, all of which disappeared after accounting for multiple comparisons. Our results suggest that residential instability in adolescence does not lead to worse health and wellbeing in adulthood, but rather, outcome differences between groups are due to pre-existing differences prior to residential instability in adolescence.     

Developmental trajectories of substance use from early adolescence to young adulthood: gender and racial/ethnic differences

PurposeThe current study examined gender and racial/ethnic (Hispanics, non-Hispanic Caucasians, non-Hispanic African Americans, and non-Hispanic Asians) differences in developmental trajectories of alcohol use, heavy drinking, smoking, and marijuana use from early adolescence to young adulthood using a nationally representative sample.MethodsParticipants from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 20,160) reported rates of alcohol use, heavy drinking, smoking, and marijuana use between the ages of 12 and 34 years. Data analyses were completed using longitudinal multilevel modeling analyses.ResultsLevels of substance use increased from early adolescence to mid-20s, and then declined thereafter. Females showed higher levels of substance use in early adolescence, although males exhibited greater changes overtime and higher levels of use in mid-adolescence and early adulthood. Overall, Hispanic youth had higher initial rates of substance use, whereas Caucasian adolescents showed higher rates of change and had the highest levels of substance use from mid-adolescence through the early 30s. Racial/ethnic differences largely disappeared after age 30, except that African Americans showed higher final levels of smoking and marijuana use than the other racial/ethnic groups. Results provide evidence for both similarities and differences in general patterns of development and in gender and racial/ethnic differences across different forms of substance use.ConclusionsFindings from the current study suggest that the critical periods for intervention and prevention of substance use may differ across gender and race/ethnicity, and that future research needs to identify common and unique mechanisms underlying developmental patterns of different forms of substance use.     

Enduring consequences of parenting for risk behaviors from adolescence into early adulthood

Few studies examine the long-term consequences of family socialization experienced during early adolescence for the health and well being of young adults. This study investigates how two salient dimensions of family socialization--family closeness and parental behavioral control--are associated with three distinct risk-taking behaviors in early adulthood: problem drinking, early school dropout and multiple sex partners. Data from the US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health are analyzed for a sample of over 1500 youth interviewed at three time points (Time 1: ages 12-14 years; Time 2: ages 13-15 years; Time 3: ages 19-21 years). Structural equation modeling techniques were used to identify direct and indirect effects of family closeness and parental behavioral control on problem behaviors among young adults. Indirect effects of family socialization were hypothesized to operate through a delayed onset of risky behaviors in adolescence. Results for females indicated that greater family closeness in early adolescence was directly and indirectly, through less adolescent truancy, associated with less school dropout in young adulthood. Family closeness was also directly associated with less early onset of sex and with fewer sex partners among females. Among males, greater parental behavioral control was directly associated with less problem drinking in young adulthood. Additionally, parental control and family closeness were each associated with males having fewer sex partners in early adulthood. Overall, findings support the strategy of family-focused interventions that stress the importance close relationships for females and of instrumental control for males.     

Enduring consequences of parenting for risk behaviors from adolescence into early adulthood

Enduring consequences of parenting for risk behaviors from adolescence into early adulthood .
Roche K. M. , Ahmed S. & Blum R. W. ( 2008 ) Social Science and Medicine , 66 , 2023 – 2034 .
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.01.009 .     

Self-reported symptoms of depression in late adolescence to early adulthood: a comparison of African-American and Caucasian females

The prevalence of depressive symptoms from adolescence through young adulthood was examined in 1,146 African-American adolescent girls and 1,075 Caucasian adolescent girls who completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies of Depression scale. Caucasian girls’ scores decreased over time, whereas scores for African-American girls were fairly consistent. Future studies are needed to examine age-specific risk factors in adolescent girls.     

Effects of socioeconomic change from birth to early adulthood on height and overweight

BACKGROUND: In this work we explored the association of height and overweight with change in socioeconomic position between birth and 19 years of age. METHODS: A birth cohort has been followed-up in Pelotas, Brazil, since 1982. All 5914 hospital births were enrolled in the study just after delivery. In 2001, 27% of the cohort subjects were sought, and 1031 (69% of the survivors) were interviewed. Weight and height were obtained for women; men had been examined 6 months earlier. Information on family income in 1982 and 2001 was used to classify the sample into tertiles, the lowest classified as 'poor' and the other two as 'non-poor'. Four trajectories resulted: always poor, never poor, poor at birth/non-poor at 19, and non-poor at birth/poor at 19-which were compared in terms of mean height and prevalence of overweight. RESULTS: Height showed a similar behaviour for men and women, with the never poor presenting the highest mean, followed by those who were non-poor at birth and later became poor. Those who were poor at birth, regardless of later status, were shortest. Overweight was approximately twice as common among men who were never poor in relation to the others. Among women, those who were always poor presented the highest prevalence of overweight. In this case, social determination seems to be complex and may involve aspects of lifestyle and behaviour acting differently for each gender. CONCLUSION: Socioeconomic trajectories affected both height and overweight, the effect on the latter being different for each gender.     

Unemployment and self-assessed health: evidence from panel data

We examine the relationship between unemployment and self-assessed health using the European Community Household Panel for Finland over the period 1996-2001. Our results show that the event of becoming unemployed does not matter as such for self-assessed health. The health status of those that end up being unemployed is lower than that of the continually employed. Therefore, persons who have poor health are being selected for the pool of the unemployed. This explains why, in a cross-section, unemployment is associated with poor self-assessed health. All in all, the cross-sectional negative relationship between unemployment and self-assessed health is not found longitudinally.     

Older sexual partners during adolescence: links to reproductive health outcomes in young adulthood

CONTEXT: Sex at a young age with an older partner has been linked to poor reproductive health outcomes during adolescence, but minimal research has examined the influence of teenagers' having an older sexual partner on reproductive health outcomes during the transition to young adulthood. METHODS: Logistic regression and contrast analyses of three waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health were used to examine whether individuals who had had sex before age 16 with a partner at least three years their senior were at increased risk of becoming teenage or unmarried parents or of contracting an STD by young adulthood. RESULTS: Ten percent of females and 2% of males had had early sex with an older partner. These females were more likely to acquire an STD as young adults than were those whose riskiest relationship was before age 16 with a similar-aged partner (odds ratio, 2.1) or at age 16 or later with a similar-aged or older partner (2.4 and 2.6, respectively). For males, having sex before 16, regardless of partner age, was associated with an elevated STD risk (odds ratio, 1.9), although controlling for relationship history characteristics attenuated the association. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents, particularly young adolescents, should be made aware of the potential risks associated with having older sexual partners. In particular, program providers should be alerted that females who engage in early sexual activity with older partners are at especially high risk of experiencing adverse reproductive health consequences.     

Longitudinal dietary change from adolescence to adulthood: perceptions, attributions and evidence

Dietary patterns and change in eating habits are influenced by multiple factors from an individual's internal and external environment. A longitudinal dietary survey study provided quantitative evidence of dietary change and investigated factors influencing dietary change from adolescence to adulthood, using sociodemographic data and participants' own perceptions of, and attributions for, their dietary change. Longitudinal dietary data were obtained in 1980 and 2000 (average age 11.6 and 32.5 years, respectively). Two questionnaires (2000) and 2 x 3-day food diaries (1980 and 2000) were collected from 198 participants. Foods consumed were assigned to one of the five food groups from The Balance of Good Health (a UK food guide). Questionnaire responses were used to examine how subjects perceived their own dietary change and the factors to which they attributed such change. Six key factors were identified from the questionnaire: parents, partners, children, nutritional awareness, employment and lack of time. Demographic and key factors were associated with degree of change in intake. The complex process of change in food consumption can be linked with an individual's attributions for change.     

Smoking from adolescence to adulthood: the effects of parental and own socioeconomic status

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to examine the effects of parental socioeconomic status, own socioeconomic status and social mobility upon the development of smoking from adolescence to adulthood. METHODS: Subjects were the participants of the North Karelia Youth Project study from six schools in Eastern Finland. At the baseline in 1978 they were 13 year-olds (n=903) and in the last of the six surveys in 1993 they were 28-year-olds. The parents were studied in 1978 and 1980. The association between smoking and socioeconomic status was measured by education, occupation and income in adolescence and adulthood, and social mobility was measured by the difference between parental and own education. RESULTS: In general, parental socioeconomic status was not significantly associated with the subjects' smoking in adolescence or adulthood. Own socioeconomic status measured at the age of 21 and 28 was strongly related to smoking. Those who were most educated in adulthood had smoked the least already from the age of 13. Social mobility was not significantly associated with smoking. CONCLUSION: The study stresses the importance of own socioeconomic status in relation to smoking, but parental socioeconomic status or social mobility does not have direct effects on smoking. Socioeconomic differences in smoking should be understood as an important determinant for health inequalities.     

Change in nutrient intake between adolescence and adulthood: a 21-year longitudinal study

Summary   The period between adolescence and adulthood is a time of great change, mentally, physically and socially. Such changes can have a profound impact on nutrient intake. Yet whilst some short-term studies have attempted to assess dietary change during adolescence, few have considered how diet changes over the longer term, spanning the transition between adolescence and adulthood. This article describes the findings of the first British study to assess the change in macronutrient and micronutrient intake from early adolescence into adulthood. The study sample comprised 202 participants of a dietary survey carried out on Northumberland 12 years olds in 1979–80 who were followed up at 33 years old. At both time-points dietary intake was measured using two 3-day food diaries with follow-up interviews to record estimated portion size. The most notable findings were that between 12 and 33 years old, for both males and females, % food energy intakes of fat, total sugars and carbohydrate had fallen and protein intakes had risen, whilst absolute intakes of unavailable carbohydrate and all micronutrients considered (vitamin C, iron, calcium, vitamin D), with the exception of retinol equivalents, had increased. These changes in intake were generally consistent in direction between males and females. In conclusion, nutrient intake undergoes considerable change between adolescence and adulthood and, in most respects, this is in a direction in line with dietary recommendations. This does not imply that efforts should not be made to improve childhood and adolescent diet given the importance of diet on health in adolescence and later in life and evidence that dietary intake is, to some extent, established at an early age.     

Gender differences in developmental pathways on self-evaluation from adolescence into adulthood: the Flanders longitudinal study

The aim of this study was to look for possible gender differences in self-evaluation in adolescence, young adulthood, and full adulthood. Subjects were interviewed at three stages: in adolescence, 8 years, and 15 years later. Hypotheses were: (a) The connection between self-evaluation in adolescence and in adulthood is stronger in girls than in boys. However, for both boys and girls there is a strong connection between young adulthood and full adulthood ("the self-evaluation-triad" hypothesis); (b) The "schooling" factor has a different effect on the self-evaluation triad for boys and girls. Results showed that different psychosocial developmental pathways apply to boys and girls. Also, working girls with a negative self-evaluation in adolescence were more vulnerable to negative self-evaluation in adulthood.