Subjective health complaints among 15 year old school children: does physical activity moderate the effect of school related stress?

The purpose of this study was to examine whether physical activity moderates the relationship between school related stress and subjective health complaints in a representative sample of adolescents. The data material was based on an international study on "Health Behaviours in school-aged children" (the HBSC study) conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organisation. The data were collected in December 1997 and include a national representative sample of 1670 Norwegian 15 year olds. Analysis were performed by hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis. The results suggested that physical activity have a significant moderating effect on the relation between subjective health complaints and school related stress, indicating that physical activity may alleviate the harmful effects of school related stress.