Association of Sedentary Behaviour and Mental Health among Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Sedentary behaviour contributes to adverse physical health outcomes in youth. Although evidence for the relationship between sedentary behaviour and mental health outcomes is emerging, little is known regarding risk of psychological distress and low self-esteem. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of sedentary behaviour with psychological distress and self-esteem in a well-characterised young adult population after controlling for a wide range of potential confounders. We adopted a cross-sectional study design. A sample of 352 participants, 208(59.1%) females and 144(40.9%) males responded to a survey. Participants were recruited from University Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia. Sedentary behaviour of the participants was determined by Sedentary Behaviour Questionnaire. Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were used to measure psychological distress and global self-esteem respectively. Analysis of sedentary behaviour demonstrated that participants have high sedentary times. The highest sedentary behaviour engaged by the participants was doing paperwork or computer work, followed by sitting, listening to music and sitting and talk on a phone. Participants spent least time playing musical instruments. Multi regression analysis was performed to determine the level of significance. Sedentary behaviour showed a statistically significant association with psychological distress and self-esteem. Sedentary behaviour can lead to mental health problems in young adults. These findings have a number of important implications for policy and practice. They highlight the need to ensure that young people have appropriate and timely access to evidence based services and interventions across the continuum. Further high-quality longitudinal or interventional research is needed to confirm findings and determine the direction of these relationships.