Objective:

To validate a scale to assess the lifestyle of Mexican adolescents.

Material and methods:

In this cross-sectional study, 523 adolescents (49% women and 51% men) with ages between 11 and 15 years participated. A lifestyle scale was designed with 5-point Likert items (0-4), consisting of six dimensions: 1) Food, 2) Physical activity, 3) Emotional state, 4) Social relationships (family, friends and school), 5). Drug addiction and 6) Health (disease prevention and sexuality). The scale was developed by a multidisciplinary group; In this study, internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha.

Results:

It was determined that the instrument has satisfactory internal consistency, both globally (Cronbach alpha = 0.75) and in each of its dimensions (Cronbach alpha 0.68 to 0.85). The six dimensions were confirmed by factor analysis. However, it was observed that at higher adolescent age the values obtained changed, given by the increase in risk behaviors.

Conclusions:

This scale has adequate psychometric properties for the evaluation of the adolescent lifestyle, but more research is required to prove its usefulness.

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