An ecological view on the correlates of sedentary behavior in Brazilian adolescents: a cross-sectional study with network analysis

Sedentary behavior has been identified as a public health concern. The present study analyzed the correlates of sedentary behavior in Brazilian adolescents through network analysis, in the light of an ecological approach.

The sample consisted of 126,354 adolescents, participating in the fourth edition of the Brazilian National School Health Survey. The variables were grouped into domains, namely intrapersonal, interpersonal, perceived environment, school variables, food variables, active behavior domains, and leisure sedentary behavior. The data were analyzed using network analysis.

The results reinforce that sedentary behavior is independent of the assessed active behavior domains, despite being weakly related to physical activity outside physical education classes (− 0.073). The variable with the greatest closeness and one of the variables with the greatest expected influence in the model was having internet at home, which was associated with private schools (− 0.230), having a cell phone (0.378), having a computer or notebook at home (0.409), and a greater weekly frequency of watching television (0.169). Furthermore, having internet at home was strongly associated with an increase in sedentary behavior (− 0.197), which, in turn, was linked to greater consumption of treats (0.067) and sodas (0.052).

We concluded that having internet at home is associated with longer sedentary time, which, in turn, is associated with greater consumption of foods of poorer nutritional quality. Interventions on sedentary behavior should be specific for population subgroups and consider actions in different levels.