THE HEALTHY LIFESTYLE OF ADOLESCENTS LIVING WITH THEIR SINGLE PARENTS
Keywords:
Adolescents, Single Parents, Lifestyle, Cross-Sectional, Quantitative StudyAbstract
The study aimed to determine the relationship between healthy lifestyle practices and adolescents raised by a single parent. It also identified healthy lifestyle problems faced by adolescents and strategies and interventions on how to limit the issues identified. The cross-sectional, quantitative study design using a survey in the form of a 36-item questionnaire that measured the health-promoting lifestyle of adolescents was utilized. The participants were 13-19-year-old adolescents who grew up in a single-parent-family. It was anchored on Murray Bowen's Family Systems Theory, an approach to understanding human functioning that focused on interactions between family members. It emphasized six subscales: life appreciation, health responsibility, nutrition, social support, physical activity, and stress management, rated on a 5-point Likert scale and analyzed through a Chi-square test. A total of 44 adolescents (29 females and 15 males) participated in this study. Data showed that all the indicators of a healthy lifestyle have a significant association and relationship with children living with a single parent. Adolescents usually practice life appreciation, social support, and stress management. Social support from family, friends, and others enhances the quality of life and is an important protective mechanism against mental health problems. Health responsibility, nutrition, and physical activity are sometimes practiced while exercising vigorously, and doing light to moderate exercises is rarely practiced by children living with a single parent. Making an effort to have good friendships is always practiced by the respondents. Also, making an effort to feel happy and content is always practiced and significantly associated with children living with a single parent. Thus, living with a single parent affects a person's wellbeing and lifestyle. Having a single parent affects a person's way of living, from the day the child is mindful of their wellbeing to adulthood.
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