Evaluation of Health-Habits with the S.M.A.R.T. Questionnaire: An Observational Study

Abstract

The civil education approach uses sports practise as a preventive intervention to increase self-awareness and to help modulate emotion in adolescents. Indeed, sports participation results in a better quality of life, more favourable cardio-metabolic and sleeping profiles and a healthier body composition. Adolescents involved in sport activities also report a higher level of social and emotional skills, and reduced mental health distress. However, the Italian school’s program provides only two hours weekly of physical education, with lack of options and participation. In alignment with the civil educational approach, the research team aims to develop a predictive sport, movement, eating habits, relationships and technologies (S.M.A.R.T.) questionnaire to identify the youths that present a higher risk of delinquency. The following research aims to explore preliminary data from 501 adolescents completing the S.M.A.R.T. The results show that the female group (n = 260) was healthier than the male group (n = 241); particularly, the female group demonstrated a higher level of self-awareness in the use of technologies (p < 0.05). Our results produce the first data set on a cohort of young adolescents in Italy using the S.M.A.R.T. questionnaire. The questionnaire possesses a high response rate and should now be implemented towards validation.