This document summarizes a study on adolescent lifestyle in India. The study surveyed 1500 adolescents across rural, urban and metro settings on their dietary habits, food consumption, sleep, activities, and risk behaviors. It found high rates of unhealthy behaviors like irregular eating and sleeping, consumption of fast food and sugary drinks, and sedentary leisure activities. It also found some participation in positive behaviors like religious activities and sports. Rural adolescents had more traditional lifestyles while urban and metro adolescents behaviors were influenced by modernization.

1. Adolescent Life Style: An
Empirical Analysis
By
Arun Pratap Singh
Department of Psychology
Delhi University – 07
E-mail- jyotiarun13@gmail.com

2. Introduction
• Human life becoming mechanical, artificial
and materialistic
• Consumption of fast food items, cold
drinks, alcohol, drug, and pornography
becoming prominent features of
adolescent lives
• Incidences of violence, anger, suicidal
tendencies, premarital sex

3. • Situation quite alarming and unique as health of
adolescents not jeopardized much by germs,
viruses, degenerative diseases but, in fact,
most severely by their own life style,
• Realizing the limited availability of data about
health related life style and need to understand
the health-compromising and health-enhancing
aspects of life style, it obtained baseline
information about the life style of adolescents
• Study attempted to describe the prevalence
percentages of life style behaviours among
school-going adolescents.

4. Method of Study
• Sample: A sample 1500 adolescents (750 boys, 750
girls) enrolled in 7th to 12th grades selected equally from
three settings (i.e., rural, urban and metro) participated in
the study. The study constituted 3 Х 2, Setting (Rural,
Urban and Metro) Х Gender (Male and Female) factorial
design.
• Measure: Life Style Survey Questionnaire addressed
comprehensive inquiries incorporating modern views as
well as the views of Ayurveda and Yoga including: (a)
dietary habits, (b) food consumption, (c) sleep habits, (d)
religious behaviours, (e) activity gradient, (f) leisure, (g)
daily routine, and (h) risk behaviours namely violence,
suicidal attempts, sexual risk taking and substance
abuse.

5. Results: (a) Prevalence
• Dietary habit: Of the total 1,500 adolescents, (a) about
74% reported to eat without appropriate hunger,
(b)15.5% never eat at fixed time, (c)58.6% eat
hurriedly
• Food intake: (a) bakery items (46.9%), (b) fast foods
(47.4%), (c) cold drinks (44%), (d) green salads
(19.5%), (e) seasonal fruits (17.5%), (f) green
vegetables (10.9%), (g) milk (25.2%), (h)fruit juice
(33.3%) for more than once a week.
• Sleep habits: (a) irregular sleep (36.4%), (b) late
sleeping (77.5%)
• Study habits: (a) lack of rest during study (79.5%), (b)
regular completion of homework (79.5%).

6. • Religiosity: (a) visiting religious places (61.4%), (b)
listening hymns (54.9%), (c) reciting mantra (53.7%),
(d) reading scriptures (53.3%), (e) meditation (49.4%),
and (f) attending satsanga (42.6%) performed monthly
or more
• Activity: about 60% for 1hour <four days/week
• Leisure time use: (a) inactive- chatting on
mobile’(70.3%), surfing internet (66.2%), listening fast
music (63.1%), watching TV/Cinema (58.1%),
videogame (57.3%), reading newspapers (54.4%),
reading novels (32.4%) performed >once/week. (b)
Active- bike riding(82.8%) walking (55%),
Cycling(53.9%), racing (47.9%), dancing (39.5%),
jogging (34.3%), Khokho or Kabaddi (35.9%), table
tennis or badminton (34.7%), Cricket (32.3%),
Swimming (25.2%), Scout/NCC participation (23.9%),
Football or Hockey (19.9%), Golf, Snooker or Billiards
(16%) > than once a week.(c) relaxed- listening
classical music (33.9%), participating cultural event
(29.9%) > once a week was also minimally prevalent.

7. • Daily routine practices: (a) ‘bathing’ (87.4%) was
indicated to be more prevalent than (b) ‘getting up
before sunrise’ (61.7%), (c) ‘physical exercise’
(39.6%), (d) ‘massaging’ (39%), and (e) Yoga (37.7%)
performed for more than once a week.
• Victimization of violence: About (65.3%) reported of
being victimized by physical violence during the last
one year
• Physical fights: About 93% of the sample
• Possession of arms: About 38.6 of the sample
• Sexual risk behaviours: (a) About 24.8% of the sample
reported to have opposite gender friendship, (b) 2.8%
reported to have used condoms while about 4.2% of
girls admitted use of contraceptives, (c) about 6.9%
reported to have experienced sexual intercourse.
• Substance abuse: (a) Use of Pan Masala (5.2%) was
more prevalent than (b) alcohol (1.3%) and (c) drugs
(.3%)

8. (b) Pattern of Life Style: Health
compromising
• Setting-wise: (a) Rural adolescents’ life suggested to be marked by
higher consumption of bakery items, least internet use and videogame
playing, more watching of TV /Cinema, more of fast music listening than
other two groups of adolescents. (c)Urban adolescents’ life was noted to
be marked by greater use of internet and videogame. (b)Metro
adolescents’ life is marred by eating in hurry, consumption of fast foods
more than urban adolescents, playing videogames at par with urban
adolescents, and victimization by violence and physical fights.
• Gender-wise: (a) Girls consumed more of bakery items, did surfing
internet, played videogames than boys. (b) Boys did more of listening
fast music, were victimized of violence, and possessed arms significantly
than girls.
• Age-group wise: (a)Early adolescents’: higher viewing of TV/Cinema,
victimization of violence, physical fights than other adolescents, playing
videogames, chatting on mobile more than late adolescents but not
significantly different from middle adolescent age-group, and carrying
arms to the school more than middle adolescent age-group. (b)Middle
adolescent groups’ (15-16 yrs) life: significantly higher consumption of
bakery items, sleeping late in night than early adolescents and higher
use of internet in comparison to other adolescents. (c) Late adolescent
groups’ (17-18 yrs) life: significantly greater consumption of cold drinks,
sleeping late in night than early adolescents.

9. (c) Pattern of Life Style: Health-Enhancing
• Setting-wise: (a) Rural adolescents’ life: significantly less consumption of
green salads, milk, fruit juice, irregular completion of homework, less
walking, racing, cultural participation, some job work, scout/NCC
volunteering, physical exercise in comparison to metro adolescents but
not significantly different from urban adolescents and least listening of
classical music, dancing, jogging, table tennis, football or hockey, cricket,
martial arts or karate, than other adolescents. (b) Urban adolescents’
life: less eating of green salads, milk, irregular completion of homework,
less racing, less cultural participation, less participation in Scout/NCC in
comparison to metro adolescents but not significantly different from rural
adolescents, significantly less religious involvement (i.e., reciting mantra,
attending satsanga, meditation, reading scriptures than rural
adolescents insignificantly different from metro adolescents and least
consumption of seasonal fruits, fruit juice, practice of yoga, massaging
than other counterparts. (c) Metro adolescents’ life style: not eating and
sleeping daily at fixed time, less practice of religious behaviors (i.e.,
reciting mantra, attending satsanga, and listening hymns) in comparison
to rural adolescents but not significantly different from urban adolescents
and least getting up before sunrise and bathing than adolescents from
other settings.

10. • Gender-wise: (a) Girls reported to eat in less
hunger, consuming less milk, sleeping
irregularly, practicing less of attending
satsanga, completing homework irregularly,
less of walking, racing, cycling, jogging, table
tennis, badminton, kabaddi, scout/NCC
volunteering, getting up before sunrise, yoga,
and physical exercise than boys, while the (b)
Boys were noted to eat less seasonal fruits,
practicing less of religious behaviors (i.e.,
reciting mantra, listening hymns), less
participation in dancing than girls.

11. Risk behaviours
• Suicidal attempts: (a) More among rural boys than boys from other
residential contexts at p<.05, (b) More among urban girls than girls from
other settings (p<.05) and (c) among boys than girls (p<.05).
• Sexual victimization: (a) reported higher among metro boys than urban
and rural boys (p<.001). (b) The urban girls have reported comparatively
being sexually victimized more than rural and metro urban girls (p<.001).
• Sexual risk-taking: (a) Opposite sex friendship a common phenomenon
among metro-urban adolescents than rural and urban adolescents for
both boys and girls (p<.001); largely prevalent among boys than girls
(p<.001). (b) The incidence of sexual intercourse moderately greater
among metro adolescent boys than urban and rural adolescent boys
(p=.01), among boys than girls (p=.001), metro-urban girls than rural and
urban girls (p=.01). (c) A considerably higher level of use of
contraceptives among metro boys than urban and rural boys (p=.05) and
significantly larger among boys than girls (p<.001) has been found.
• Substance abuse: (a) Considerably higher level of tobacco use among
boys than girls (p<.05). (b) Pan Masala use higher among urban
adolescents (p<.001), and more among boys than girls (p<.006). (c)
alcohol use highly prevalent among urban boys (p=.002) and largely
among boys than girls (p=.001). (d) higher prevalence of drug use
among boys compared to the girls (p<.001).

12. • Age-group: Early adolescents’ life was characterized
with less play of football or hockey, traditional games
(i.e., khokho or kabaddi), martial arts or karate than
other adolescents and significantly less physical
exercise than late adolescents but not significantly
different from middle adolescents. (b) Middle
adolescents consumed less milk, showed lesser
religious involvement (i.e., visiting religious places,
meditation), active leisure (i.e., racing, cycling,
jogging, table tennis, badminton,), cultural activities
(i.e., dancing), job work, scout/NCC volunteering, and
getting up before sunrise than early adolescents but
not significantly different from late adolescents. (c)
Late adolescents showed less consumption of milk, ,
less religious involvement (i.e, visiting religious places,
meditation) active leisure (i.e., racing, cycling, table
tennis, badminton,), scout/NCC volunteering, and
getting up before sunrise than early adolescents but
not significantly different from middle adolescents.

13. Discussion
• The higher prevalence of unhealthy dietary habits (i.e.,
eating without appropriate hunger and eating hurriedly),
unfavorable food items (bakery items, fast foods, cold
drinks), negative sleep habit (sleeping irregularly and
late night sleeping), health-compromising leisure time
activities (i.e., surfing internet, chatting on mobile,
videogames, watching TV cinema), and some of the risk
behaviours (victimization of violence, physical fights,
possession of arms) were noticeable
• Enquiry on some of other risk behaviours related to
sexual risk-taking and substance abuse although
answered by limited number of adolescents, yielded a
considerable prevalence percentage

14. • The lower prevalence for intake of positive
food items (green salads, seasonal fruits,
green vegetables), religious involvement in
meditation, positive leisure timer activities
(jogging, sports, games, scout/NCC,
cultural participation) and daily routine
practices (i.e., Yoga and physical
exercise) was noted.
• Urban adolescents life more or less
characterized by transition between rural
and metro ethos of life.

15. • Irregularity in eating, sleeping and less
involvement in religious behaviors
characterize adolescents from urban and
metro settings. On the other hand, the
urban adolescents appear to share rural
(or traditional) ethos of life with regard to
not wasting their time in leisure activities.

16. Refrences
• Singh, A. P., & Misra, G. (2012).
Adolescent Life Style Survey [Database
record]. Retrieved from PsycTESTS.
doi:https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/t28857-000

17. Refrences
• Singh, Arun Pratap (2015). Efficacy of a 4-week yogic lifestyle
education for promoting holistic health in Indian school adolescents.
Yog Mimamsa, 47(1), 22-29. doi: 10.4103/0044-0507.195455.
• Sawle, J.P., Lehakpure, R., Singh, A.P. & Jha, A.K. (2015).
Development of self-control in Gandhian Life. Indian Journal of
Social Science and Organizational Behaviour, 4 (1), 63-72.
• Singh, Arun Pratap (2015). Holism in Yoga: Some Reflections from
Yoga-sutra. International Journal of Yoga and Allied Sciences, 3(2),
61-66.
• Singh, Arun Pratap (2015). Positive Life style and Spiritual Health:
Results of a Field Experiment among School Adolescents. Indian
Journal of Social Sciences and Organizational Behavior, 3(1 & 2),
45-54.

18. Refrences…
• Singh, Arun Pratap & Jha, Arbind Kumar (2015). Adolescent health
education in India: demographic travails, contextual influences and
implications for health concerns. Indian Educational Review ,53(1),
25-38.
• Singh, A.P. & Misra, G. (2013). Life Style Counselling in School:
Emerging Implications and Future Directions. In Guidance and
Counselling: New Directions (edited by Dr. Sandhy Ojha, O.P.
Chaudhary, and Shambhu Upadhyaya).New Delhi: Shree
Publications. ISBN: 978-81-8329-522-2.

19. • Singh, A.P. (2012). Pattern of Health Behaviors among Indian
School Adolescents. Indian Journal of Social Science and
Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 9-16. ISSN: 2278-568X.
• Singh, A.P. & Misra, G.(2011). Lifestyle and Positive Health: Results
of 15-day Life Style Intervention Programme among Indian School
Adolescents. In S.K.Yadav and S.B.Yadav (Ed.) Positive
Psychology (p.269-282). New Delhi: Global Vision Publishing
House.