Relationship Between Stress, Physical Activity Level and Body Mass Index Among School Adolescents in Penang, Malaysia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3923/pjn.2020.451.459Keywords:
Adolescents, body mass index (BMI), Malaysia, physical activity, stressAbstract
Background and Objective: Studies on the relationship between stress, physical activity levels and body mass index (BMI) among secondary school students are limited in Malaysia and information describing each factoris scarce. This study was conducted to determine the stress and physical activity levels among adolescent secondary school students in the state of Penang and to identify the relationship between stress, physical activity levels and BMI. Materials and Methods: A total of 420 adolescents from four different schools in Penang were randomly selected as subjects for this study. Data collection was carried out through anthropometric measurements, the depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS-21) and the international physical activity level questionnaires (IPAQ). The anthropometric measurements included weight and height. Results: DASS-21 results showed that the subjects experienced a normal depression level (8.50±6.78), a moderate anxiety level (10.0±6.96) and a normal stress level (11.95±7.00). The condition with the highest prevalence among the subjects was anxiety (60.0%) followed by depression (40.0%) and stress (29.5%). The level of physical activity among the subjects was high with mean of metabolic equivalent (MET) scores of 4207.6±3606.4 for total physical activity. The DASS-21 showed a significant but weak negative correlation between depression scores and MET scores for male subjects (r = −0.154, p<0.05) and overall subjects (r = −0.145, p<0.01). There was no correlation between BMI and all DASS components but a negative correlation with BMI was observed for high intensity physical activity (r = 0.214, p<0.01) and total MET scores (r = -0.174, p<0.05) for male subjects. Conclusion: The depression and stress levels were found to be at normal levels whereas the level of anxiety was found to be moderate. The level of physical activity was high. A significant negative correlation of depression with DASS and MET scores was observed for male and overall subjects.
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