Associations Between Perceived Physical Literacy and DXA-Measured Body Composition in Spanish Adolescents: The ENERGYCO Study Villa González, Emilio Campos Garzón, Pablo Ávila García, Manuel Ramírez Osuna, Ana Rodríguez Sánchez, David Segura Díaz, Jose Manuel Valle Muñoz, Víctor Manuel Physical Activity Health Young Background: Physical literacy is a multidimensional construct that may be relevant for promoting active lifestyles and healthy development during adolescence. However, the association between perceived physical literacy (PPL) and body composition assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) remains underexplored. Objective: To examine the association between PPL and DXA-derived body composition parameters in Spanish adolescents. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 56 adolescents (13.2 ± 1.27 years, 28.6% girls). PPL was assessed using the validated Spanish version of the Perceived Physical Literacy Instrument (S-PPLI). Body composition was measured by DXA. Associations between PPL and body composition outcomes were examined using general linear models, adjusting for sex, age, and device-measured moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time. Results: Higher PPL was significantly associated with greater lean body mass (β = 0.81; p = 0.02), lean mass index (β = 0.22; p = 0.01), and fat-free mass (β = 0.85; p = 0.01), as well as with higher body mass index (BMI) (β = 0.24; p = 0.03). Conclusions: Higher PPL is associated with more favorable lean-related body composition outcomes in Spanish adolescents, whereas no associations were found with adiposity or bone parameters. These findings highlight PPL as a relevant correlation of lean body composition during adolescence. Given the cross-sectional design, causal inferences cannot be drawn, and future longitudinal and interventional studies are warranted. 2026-01-26T08:45:37Z 2026-01-26T08:45:37Z 2026-01-13 journal article Villa-González, E., Campos-Garzón, P., Ávila-García, M., Ramírez-Osuna, A., Rodriguez-Sanchez, D., Segura-Díaz, J. M., & Valle-Muñoz, V. M. (2026). Associations Between Perceived Physical Literacy and DXA-Measured Body Composition in Spanish Adolescents: The ENERGYCO Study. Applied Sciences, 16(2), 807. https://doi.org/10.3390/app16020807 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/110229 10.3390/app16020807 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI