Background: Overweight and/or obesity amongst children and adolescents is a global epidemic with health consequences that track into adulthood. No data are currently available regarding overweight/obesity amongst adolescents in Lesotho.Aim and setting: To assess the prevalence of overweight and/or obesity and the associated risk factors amongst 16-year olds in urban Maseru, Lesotho.
Method: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on a systematic sample of 16-year olds ingrade four (N = 221; 56.6% girls) from randomly-selected schools in urban Maseru. Diet histories and data on lifestyle, physical activity and knowledge, attitudes and/or perceptions and practices regarding nutrition were obtained during structured interviews and body mass index (BMI) was determined.
Results: Amongst these 16-year olds, 27.2% girls and 8.3% boys were overweight and/or obese based on World Health Organization cut-offs for BMI; 39.8% were insufficiently active or inactive;6.4% used alcohol regularly; and 11.7% used tobacco. Whilst 28.1% reported no television watching/electronic gaming/computer usage (combined screen time) outside school, 23.6% reported ≥ 4 hours of combined screen time outside school. Most (91.4%) consumed < 3 servings of vegetables/day; 86.4% consumed < 2 servings of fruits/day; and 95.5% consumed < 2 servings of dairy/day. The majority consumed maize porridge (56.1%), bread (63.8%) and margarine/oil/fat (82.3%) daily and added sugar to their food (74.2%). Fruits, vegetables, dairy, meat, pulses and traditional foods were only consumed weekly or less often. Most bought from tuck shops (18.6% daily; 54.3% weekly). Various gaps in knowledge, perceptions and practices were identified that may benefit from educational intervention.
Conclusions: The current study identifies westernised dietary and lifestyle changes, along with overweight and/or obesity, amongst 16-year old adolescents in Lesotho.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v6i1.618 | DOI Listing |
Psych J
December 2024
CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
This study explores how peers influence the moral decisions of Chinese adolescents (12- to 16-year-olds, M = 14.32, n = 84) and young adults (18- to 26-year-olds, M = 20.92, n = 99) in moral dilemmas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJMIR Mhealth Uhealth
December 2024
see Acknowledgments, .
Background: Adolescence is a period characterized by an increased susceptibility to developing risky alcohol consumption habits. This susceptibility can be influenced by social and situational factors encountered in daily life, which, in conjunction with emotions and thoughts, contribute to behavioral patterns related to alcohol use even in the early stages of alcohol experimentation, when initial experiences with alcohol are formed, and regular consumption is still evolving.
Objective: This study aimed to examine the association between detailed behavioral and movement patterns, along with emotional and cognitive factors, and the early onset of alcohol use in the everyday lives of adolescents.
Int J Epidemiol
October 2024
Centre for Development, Evaluation, Complexity and Implementation in Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Wales, UK.
J Child Psychol Psychiatry
December 2024
Clinical Psychiatry, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Background: Childhood adversity poses a major transdiagnostic risk for a host of psychiatric disorders. Altered threat-related information processing has been put forward as a potential process underlying the association between childhood adversity and psychiatric disorders, with previous research providing support for decreased discrimination between threat and safety cues, in both children and adults exposed to adversity. This altered threat-safety discrimination has been hypothesized to stem from increased generalization of fear, yet to date, this hypothesis has not been tested in youth.
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