Association between healthy lifestyle factors and health-related quality of life among Chinese adolescents: the moderating role of gender

BACKGROUND: To examine the associations of the independent and combined healthy lifestyle factors with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in adolescents, and to test the moderating role of gender. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 5125 adolescents aged between 11 and 20 years. They provided self-reported data on six healthy lifestyle factors, including never smoking, never drinking, good sleep quality, sufficient sleep duration, appropriate Internet use, and adequate physical activity. Adolescents’ HRQOL was evaluated using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory version 4.0. Linear regression models were conducted to explore the association of individual and combined healthy lifestyle factors with adolescents’ HRQOL. We further performed stratified analyses and likelihood ratio test to explore the moderating role of gender in these associations. RESULTS: Of the included adolescents, the proportions with 0–2, 3, 4, and 5–6 healthy lifestyle factors were 13.6%, 26.4%, 44.3%, and 15.7%, respectively. Compared to adolescents with composite healthy lifestyle scores of 0–2, those with scores of 3, 4, or 5–6 had significantly higher HRQOL scores across all dimensions, summary scales, and total scale in both unadjusted and adjusted models. Specifically, adolescents with 5–6 healthy lifestyle factors had a total scale score that was 19.03 (95%CI: 17.76 to 20.30) points higher than their counterparts who only had 0–2 healthy lifestyle factors. Significant dose-response patterns were also observed in aforementioned associations. Gender was a significant moderator in the associations between composite healthy lifestyle groups and HRQOL scores, except for the social functioning dimension. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirmed that combined healthy lifestyle factors were associated with improved HRQOL among adolescents, with a stronger association observed in girls. These findings underscore the necessity for education and healthcare authorities to design health-promoting strategies that encourage multiple healthy lifestyle factors in adolescents, with the objective of enhancing their overall health outcomes.