Factors Associated with the Practice of Physical Activity of Leisure in Adolescents

The objective of this research is to verify the factors associated with the practice of leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) in adolescents in the school context. A cross - sectional quantitative study was carried out with students from Joinville's municipal public school system, who are enrolled in the schools that received the best average in the Basic Education Development Index (BEDI) in the year 2015. A total of 233 students, all with a chronological age of 12 to 14 years, who answered a questionnaire, were evaluated on the LTPA evaluation through the self-report of closed questions about sociodemographic, health and leisure conditions of anthropometric assessments with the following indicators: Body mass index (BMI); Abdominal circumference (AC); Waist/hip ratio; (WHR) and waist/height ratio (WHtR). The main results of this study were: Adolescents who are physically active in leisure time have a higher prevalence of quality of life; There is the recognition of the improvements made possible by the LTPA associated with the stamina to so in the population studied; Non-LTPA practitioners had a higher risk index for measures of WHtR and WHR; Adolescents who do not practice LTPA have a higher prevalence of sedentary behavior. Concluding that LTPA may be an alternative for the integral development of the studied population.