Comparison of Health Promoting Lifestyle Predictors in High School Students with and without Overweight and Obesity: An Application of Health Promotion

Adolescents who have overweight and obesity face many physical and psychological problems and this condition may extend to adult life. The aim of this study was to compare factors related to health promotion lifestyle based on Pender Health Promotion Model (HPM) among high school students with and without overweight and obesity. Materials and Methods This was a comparative cross-sectional study conducted on high school students in Deyyer city, Bushehr province, Iran. 353 students (180 students with overweight and obesity and 173 without overweight and obesity) were studied. The data collection tool consisted of three sections (baseline characteristics, HPM constructs and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II). Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 22.0.

The mean score of health promoting lifestyle behaviors in spiritual-growth (p<0.029), responsibility (p<0.02), stress-management (p<0.002), physical-activity (p<0.001), healthy-eating (p<0.002), in students with overweight and obesity were significantly lower than those without overweight and obesity. According to the results of regression analysis, predictors of health promoting lifestyle between two groups of students were different. The only predictor construct of healthy lifestyle in adolescents without overweight and obesity was perceived self-efficacy (p<0.001), and in students with overweight and obesity in addition to perceived self-efficacy (p=0.030), perceived barriers (p=0.015), also predicted students' health promoting lifestyle.

The results of this study showed that students with overweight and obesity had a poor health promoting lifestyle compared to those without overweight and obesity. In general, to improve the health-promoting lifestyle, implementation of educational interventions based on the HPM with emphasis on self-efficacy for normal weight students and self-efficacy and perceived barriers constructs for obese and overweight students are recommended.