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. 2017 Apr;62(3):387-396.
doi: 10.1007/s00038-016-0930-9. Epub 2016 Dec 10.

Participation in organized leisure-time activities and risk behaviors in Czech adolescents

Petr Badura  1   2 , Dagmar Sigmundova  3 , Erik Sigmund  3 , Andrea Madarasova Geckova  3   4   5   6 , Jitse P van Dijk  7   4   6 , Sijmen A Reijneveld  7
Affiliations

Participation in organized leisure-time activities and risk behaviors in Czech adolescents

Petr Badura et al. Int J Public Health. 2017 Apr.

Abstract

Objectives: The study aimed to assess the associations between participation in organized leisure-time activities (OLTA) and risk behaviors, and whether the associations differed by gender, age, and pattern of OLTA involvement.

Methods: Data from the 2013/2014 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study on 10,279 11-, 13-, and 15-year-old Czech adolescents (49.2% boys) were used. We assessed the associations between OLTA participation and risk behaviors, and modification by age and gender.

Results: OLTA participants were less likely to smoke, get drunk repeatedly, or skip school and, in contrast, more likely to get injured and fight repeatedly. The associations with lower occurrence of risk behaviors were the strongest for artists, while none was significant for adolescents participating only in team sports. Girls participating in OLTA had lower odds to smoke, get drunk, or skip school than boys, and these boys had higher odds to get injured or fight.

Conclusions: OLTA participation is associated with lower occurrence of repeated substance use and truancy and inversely with higher odds for physical fights and injuries. Girls, in general, are at lower risk when participating in OLTA than boys.

Keywords: Adolescents; Bullying; Extracurricular activities; Substance use; Truancy; Violence.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in the study were in accordance with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study design was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacky University, Olomouc (No. 17/2013). Participation in the study was voluntary and anonymous, with no incentives offered to the participants. Parents or legal guardians of the adolescents were notified of the study and its purpose by the school management in advance and could withdraw their child. Prior to administration of the questionnaires, the respondents were also notified of the option to opt out of the study or skip questions that made them uncomfortable.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Percentages of adolescents active in organized leisure-time activities and those inactive who reported being involved in specific risk behaviors by gender (total sample, n = 10,279); 2013/2014 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study in the Czech Republic
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Percentages of adolescents per organized leisure-time activity cluster who reported being involved in specific risk behaviors, in cases where the interactions of the cluster with gender were statistically significant (total sample, n = 10,279); 2013/2014 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children study in the Czech Republic
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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