The Influence of Healthy Lifestyle and Physical Activity on Adolescent Physical Health

Abstract

A healthy lifestyle and regular physical activity are widely regarded as central determinants of physical health during adolescence and early adulthood, yet their relative and combined contribution is not always tested together in a single model. This study examined the effect of healthy lifestyle and physical activity on the physical health of late adolescents and young adults. A quantitative correlational design was used, with data collected through an online Likert-scale questionnaire (10 items per variable) completed by 35 respondents aged 18-24. Descriptive statistics showed that healthy lifestyle and physical health both fell in the "good" category, while physical activity fell in the "moderate" category. Classical assumption tests confirmed linear relationships, normally distributed residuals, and no multicollinearity between predictors (VIF = 1.001). Pearson correlation showed that physical activity was moderately and significantly associated with physical health (r = 0.578, p < 0.001), whereas healthy lifestyle showed no significant association (r = 0.185, p = 0.287). Multiple regression confirmed this pattern: the model was significant, F(2, 32) = 9.096, p < 0.001, explaining 36.2% of the variance in physical health (R² = 0.362), but only physical activity was an independent significant predictor (β = 0.573, p < 0.001), contributing 33.1 percentage points to the explained variance, compared with a non-significant 3.1 percentage points for healthy lifestyle (β = 0.169, p = 0.241). These findings suggest that, in this sample, physical activity is the dominant driver of adolescent physical health, while the broader healthy-lifestyle measure used here requires refinement before its independent contribution can be confirmed.