Background: Health researchers have increasingly focused on the relationship between social factors and health status. Several studies have demonstrated the link between socioeconomic status and people’s health. This study aims to determine the physical literacy of Iranian adolescents based on the educational level and economic status of their families.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 510 Iranian adolescents aged 16 to 18 years were randomly sampled from high schools in Tehran, Iran, in 2021. Data were collected using a two-part questionnaire assessing general characteristics and physical literacy. The physical literacy section comprised 34 items across four dimensions: information acquisition, information comprehension, information assessment, and self-care skills. Data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 16.0).
Results: The study population comprised 256 girls (50.2%) and 254 boys (49.8%). ANOVA revealed a significant association between adolescents' mean physical literacy scores and the educational level of both mothers (p = 0.001) and fathers (p = 0.007). Specifically, adolescents whose mothers and fathers had a university education exhibited higher mean physical literacy scores (73.84 ± 14.96 and 73.11 ± 14.74 out of 100, respectively). No significant association was found between overall physical literacy scores and family economic status (p = 0.068); however, a significant relationship was observed between family economic status and the self-care domain (p = 0.021).
Conclusion: Based on the results, parental education is significantly and positively associated with adolescent physical literacy in Iran. However, while overall family economic status did not correlate with physical literacy, it did show a significant relationship with self-care skills. This underscores the need to consider both parental education and socioeconomic factors when designing interventions to promote self-care skills among Iranian adolescents.