Health risk behaviors among European adolescents: A latent profile analysis

Current literature on prevention and intervention programs for European adolescents who engage in health-risk behaviors is limited; only a few studies have utilized latent profile analysis (LPA) on adolescents and their health-risk behaviors, highlighting the need for more comprehensive research using internationally comparative data. The study used a quantitative approach and implemented secondary data analysis using the Health Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey 2017/2018 to understand the prevalence of health-risk behaviors among 15-year-old European adolescents and yield latent adolescent profiles regarding their health-risk behaviors by sex. Additionally, this study investigated the influence of parental, peer, and teacher relationships on adolescents' health-risk behavior tendencies. Five latent profiles of health risk behaviors were identified for boys and six for girls. For both boys and girls, low-risk (83.4% and 85.7%), poor lifestyle, smoking (6.2% and 5.1%), balanced lifestyle, aggressive acts (5.4% and 3.7%), poor lifestyle, high substance use (2% and 1%), and moderate lifestyle, moderate substance use (3% and 0.9%) were common profiles. A moderate lifestyle and low substance use profile (3.6%) were specific to girls. The study highlights the meaningful patterns of risk behaviors among adolescents, with five behavioral patterns identified for boys and six for girls. The findings suggest the need for targeted prevention programming, particularly in addressing substance use, which was critical among adolescents.