Comparison of well-being perception between physical activity levels according with age in Luxembourg: Health Behavior in School-aged Children survey 2022

Purpose: Youth is a key life phase, as the behaviours established during this phase will mostly continue during adult live. Mental health is a state of well-being (WB) in which individuals realize their own abilities, can cope with the usual stresses of life, can work productively, and is able to contribute to their community. Physical activity (PA) is associated with the improvement of physical, cognitive, and mental health. This study aimed to analyse adolescents’ state of WB in levels of PA across age, by gender in Luxembourg.
Methods: A representative sample of 8117 adolescents (11-to-18-years-old) took part in the Health Behaviour in School Aged Children (HBSC) Luxembourg 2022 survey. WB was measured using the WHO-5 Well-being Index, and levels of PA were determined according to the time spend on and frequency of moderate-vigorous and vigorous PA (Highly active, Active, Low active and Not active). A two-way ANOVA stratified by gender was performed to analyse differences of the WB mean for PA levels and age group.
Results: For both girls and boys, those Highly active reported better WB than those Not active, in all age groups (p<0.01, all age groups). For the intermediary levels of PA, different gender and age patterns were observed for the WB. While differences were observed between intermediary levels of PA among young girls, no statistically significant difference in mean WB was observed between intermediary levels of PA for girls aged 17 to 18 (highly active (mean=12.9, CI95%11.4-14.5), active (mean=12.4, CI95%11.8-12.9) and Low active (mean=11.80, CI95%11.3-13.2). In boys, only the age group 15-16 showed a difference between the highly active (mean=15.9, CI95%15.2-16.5) and active (mean=15.2, CI95%14.9-15.6) compared to the Low active (mean=13.3, CI95%12.8-13.9) and not active (mean=12.2, CI95%10.6-13.8).
Conclusions: Higher PA level is a protective factor for the WB of adolescents in Luxembourg in all ages. This study reinforces the importance of PA to maintain higher levels of well-being through adolescence in Luxembourg. To increase WB in Luxembourg future actions could be taken in order to reinforce the adherence to PA WHO recommendations in Luxembourg in younger ages and promote any level of PA for older ages.