Relationship of parental support on healthy habits, school motivations and academic performance in adolescents

Abstract

The objective of the study was to analyze how parental support relates to the physical activity practice, satisfaction with sports, level of physical activity, academic performance and alcohol consumption. Descriptive cross-sectional study, with 1100 adolescents (12–16 years old), where the factors related to parental support, gender and age acted as independent variables, and satisfaction with sport, level of physical activity (PA), academic performance and alcohol consumption acted as dependent variables. A multivariate statistical analysis was conducted. Adolescents with little parental support show (p < 0.001) more boredom, less fun, worse academic performance and higher alcohol consumption. Gender shows differences (p < 0.001) experiencing girls more boredom, less fun, less PA practice and higher academic performance than boys. Age establishes (p < 0.01) that older adolescents (15–16 years old) experience more boredom, less fun, less PA practice, lower academic performance and higher alcohol consumption than young boys and girls (12–14 years old). Parental support towards PA practice improves healthy habits, benefits academic performance and school satisfaction with physical and sports activity.