SPORTS PARTICIPATION ASSOCIATED WITH HEALTH RISK BEHAVIORS IN ADOLESCENT ATHLETES

ABSTRACT Introduction Participation in structured sports activities is essential for the health of adolescents, since adolescence is a period in which several physical, psychological, cognitive and social changes occur, where the sense of autonomy in decision-making may prompt them to adhere to certain health risk behaviors. Objective To verify the association of sports participation with health risk behaviors in adolescent athletes. Methods A cross-sectional study with 367 athletes (15.68 ± 0.78 years) from Curitiba/PR (state of Paraná). Associated factors and health risk behaviors (HRB) were assessed using questionnaires. Poisson regression with robust variance was used to analyze factors associated with HRB, adopting p