Adolescent body mass index and physical activity

a case study with different analysis approaches

Abstract

The number of overweight people has been increasing in recent years and part of it due to
the poor diet of the population combined with the lack of regular physical exercise. The work of Costa (2010) presents an experiment that relates the Body Mass Index (BMI) with the physical activity of adolescents in Portugal. The objective of this paper is to present different analytical approaches to the same experiment. Such reflections are fundamental in planning and consequent analysis of similar experiments. There is evidence to believe that BMI may be different between men and women and, in this, a it is not the main focus comparison of genres, it may be more desirable to analyze them in two separate experiments. Still, the practice of physical activity did not affect the BMI of adolescents.