Health Lifestyles in Adolescence and Self-rated Health into Adulthood

2017/10/10 by Amy M. Burdette, Belinda L. Needham, Miles G. Taylor +1 · 103 citations
Health Professions · Medicine · Psychology · Social Sciences · #Adolescent health #Developmental psychology #Early adulthood #Environmental health #Ethnic group #Food Security and Health in Diverse Populations #Gerontology #Health disparities and outcomes #Health risk #Latent class model #Life course approach #Longitudinal study #Medicine #Mental health #Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet #Perspective (graphical) #Physical health #Psychiatry #Psychology #Public health #Race and health #Social class #Social determinants of health #Sociology #Young adult

paper · doi:10.1177/0022146517735313

published in Journal of Health and Social Behavior 58(4), 520-536 (SAGE Publishing)

openalex publication_date 2017/10/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

Do health behaviors cluster together as health lifestyles in adolescence? Are these lifestyles socially patterned? Do these lifestyles impact physical health into adulthood? To answer these questions, we employed data from Waves 1 and 4 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health ( n = 7,827). Our latent class analysis revealed four health lifestyles: (a) low risk, (b) moderate risk with substance use, (c) moderate risk with inactivity, and (d) high risk. As suggested by health lifestyle theory, membership in these classes varied according to gender, race-ethnicity, and family structure. Consistent with the life course perspective, regression analyses indicated that those in the high-risk lifestyle tend to exhibit worse health in adolescence and adulthood than those in the low-risk lifestyle. Our findings confirm that socially patterned lifestyles can be observed in adolescence, and these lifestyles are potentially important for understanding the distribution of physical health across the early life course.

Citations

• Self-Rated Health and Mortality: A Review of Twenty-Seven Community Studies
• Health Lifestyle Theory and the Convergence of Agency and Structure

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