The impact of healthy lifestyles on academic achievement among Italian adolescents

We evaluated the association between healthy lifestyles and academic achievement in a sample of 373 adolescent Italian students. Specifically, we investigated on the association between use of illegal drugs, habits to practice a regular physical, typology of diet, levels of social support, levels of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) Vol. 42; no. 6; pp. 5055 - 5061
Main Authors:	Maniaci, Giuseppe, La Cascia, Caterina, Giammanco, Alessandra, Ferraro, Laura, Palummo, Alessia, Saia, Giovanni F., Pinetti, Gaia, Zarbo, Manuela, La Barbera, Daniele
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	New York Springer US 01-02-2023 Springer Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:	Academic achievement Behavioral Science and Psychology Demographic aspects Educational aspects Health aspects Health behavior Internet Life style Lifestyles Psychology Self esteem Social Sciences Social support Teenagers Youth Italy Health psychology Academic achievement School psychology Educational psychology Healthy lifestyles
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Summary:	We evaluated the association between healthy lifestyles and academic achievement in a sample of 373 adolescent Italian students. Specifically, we investigated on the association between use of illegal drugs, habits to practice a regular physical, typology of diet, levels of social support, levels of self-esteem, level of Internet use, perceived stress and amount of sleep and academic achievement. Academic performance was positively correlated with good diet, perceived social support, and self-esteem. A statistically significant difference emerged between students with high versus low correct grade point averages in relation to lifetime and current use of illegal drugs. Last, academic performance was negatively correlated with Internet use, perceived stress, and bad diet. A multiple regression analysis was conducted in order to predict academic achievement based on good diet, physical activity, self-esteem, sleep hours, perceived stress, problematic Internet use, perceived social support, and lifetime substance use while controlling for age, gender, and years of education. As expected, healthy lifestyles behaviors were highlighted as a significant predictor in academic achievement. Specifically, it was showed that a good diet as well as nonproblematic Internet use significantly predicted academic success. Moreover, it was found that gender did not moderate the relationship between those predictors and academic achievement. The results of our study show that to practice healthy lifestyle behaviors is a relevant factor for a better performance at school, at least in our sample.
ISSN:	1046-1310 1936-4733
DOI:	10.1007/s12144-021-01614-w