Abstract Body: Introduction: School environments play a crucial role in shaping the social and physical health of children, by promoting lifelong healthy habits. Therefore, we examined the association between harmful (peer-bullying) and positive (school connectedness) school-based experiences and behavioral CVH (bCVH) among children and adolescents.
Methods: Data from 910 youth (14.9±1.9 years; 49.6% non-Hispanic White; 48% female) from the Young Hearts Study were analyzed. Self-reported experiences of peer bullying and school connectedness were measured via the School Experiences survey. Scores for bullying and school connectedness were derived by summing each of the four items pertaining to peer bullying and school connectedness, from their respective subdomain. A composite bCVH score was calculated by averaging scores for the four behavioral components of the American Heart Association Life’s Essential 8 [LE8; diet, physical activity (PA), sleep, and nicotine exposure] as well as body mass index (BMI), each scored on a 0 (poor) to 100 (ideal) scale. Linear regression was used to measure associations between school experiences and bCVH adjusting for age, sex, race, household income, and health insurance status.
Results: Mean scores (±SD; range 0-16) for peer bullying and school connectedness were 1.65±2.53 and 12.3±3.8, respectively. Mean scores for the four components of the LE8 and BMI were: diet (39.4±22.0), PA (70.8±39.9), sleep (74.5±28.7), nicotine exposure (92.6±19.7), and BMI (77.9±32.3). In fully adjusted models, 1-unit higher score of connectedness or bullying were associated with 0.45-unit higher and 0.82-unit lower bCVH scores, respectively. Among individual bCVH components, connectedness was most strongly associated with BMI [0.77 (95% CI, 0.13, 1.41)] and nicotine exposure scores [0.76 (0.39, 1.12)], while higher bullying was associated with lower diet [-1.27 (-1.86, -0.67)] and nicotine exposure [-0.8 (-1.33, -0.27)] scores (Figure 1).
Conclusions: Optimizing the school environment to promote social connectedness and anti-bullying practices may be an important strategy in promoting CVH among adolescents.