Differences in lifestyles including physical activity according to sexual orientation among Korean adolescents

Background: the purpose of the presentstudy was to examine differences in lifestyle factors such as physical activity among homosexual (gay or lesbian),bisexual,and heterosexual korean adolescents. methods: the sample consisted of 74,186 adolescents from grades 7-12 (ages 12-18) who participated in the 8than-nual korea youth risk behavior web-based surveyin 2012. of this sample,only 11,829 provided enough infor-mation regarding their romantic and sexual experiences to define them as gay,lesbian,bisexual,or heterosexual. from this information,males were divided into gay (n = 323),bisexual (n = 243),and heterosexual (n = 6,501) groups,and females were divided into lesbian (n = 208),bisexual (n = 113),and heterosexual (n = 4,441) groups. differences in lifestyle factors according to sexual orientation were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance. results: males showed significant differences by sexual orientation group in terms of frequency of smoking (p= 0.029),alcohol consumption (p < 0.001),muscular strength exercises(p = 0.020),and walking for at least 10 minutes per week (p < 0.001). females showed significant differences by sexual orientation group in terms of frequency of smoking (p < 0.001),alcohol consumption(p < 0.001),vigorous physical exercise (p < 0.001),moderate physical ex-ercise (p < 0.001),and muscular strength exercises(p < 0.001),as well as for self-reported mental stress (p < 0.001). conclusion:we concluded those gay and bisexual males andlesbian and bisexualfemales had significant lifestyle dif-ferences as compared with heterosexual adolescents. this effect was stronger for females than for males.