Introduction:

Physical activity, health-related quality of life, self-concept and body-mass index are indicators of a healthy lifestyle.

Objective:

To determine the levels of physical activity and sedentary lifestyle, the health-related quality of life, the physical self-concept and the body-mass index in Colombian middle and high-school students.

Materials and methods:

We included 1,253 students between 10 and 20 years of age (601 men and 652 women) in the study. We used the following instruments for the measurements: A weighing machine, a stadiometer, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, the 12-Item Short Form HealthSurvey(SF-12®), and the Physical Self-concept Questionnaire in its Spanish version.

Results:

The statistical analysis showed higher levels in the body-mass index among female students and higher scores for the physical condition, self-concept and competence among male students, with meaningful statistical differences (p<0,05). Additionally, women had higher scores in moderate and vigorous physical activity, while men had higher scores in walking. Men got higher scores in the dimension of health-related quality of life, except in the social function, which differed significantly from the general health, emotional role, mental health, and vitality dimensions.

Conclusions:

We found a relation between the body-mass index and the physical condition and competence self-concept, as well as between body-mass index and general health, physical function, mental health and vitality. We also found a relation between a sedentary lifestyle and general health, body pain, and physical role.

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