Abstract
Objective: The present study aimed to examine the interactive associations between physical activity and mental health literacy with anxiety and depressive symptoms in Chinese college students.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from May to July 2020. A total of 7,512 students were recruited from two medical colleges in Hefei and Anqing city in Anhui Province, China. Physical activity, mental health literacy, anxiety and depressive symptoms were measured by self-reported validated instruments. Analyses were conducted with logistic regression models.Results: The prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms was 8.6% and 16.4%, respectively. Insufficient physical activity was significantly associated with depressive symptoms (OR = 1.359, 95%CI 1.184–1.561) and anxiety symptoms (OR = 1.492, 95%CI: 1.237–1.799). Inadequate mental health literacy was significantly associated with depressive symptoms (OR = 3.089, 95%CI: 2.607–3.662) and anxiety symptoms (OR = 3.675, 95%CI: 2.861–4.721). Low physical activity rank (OR = 1.438, 95%CI: 1.151–1.798) was significantly related with depressive symptoms but not anxiety symptoms. The students who had inadequate mental health literacy and insufficient physical activity had the highest risks of depressive symptoms (OR = 5.049, 95% CI: 3.649–6.987) and anxiety symptoms (OR = 5.270, 95% CI: 3.338–8.321).Conclusion: These finding indicated that Chinese college students having insufficient physical activity and inadequate mental health literacy are at risk of exhibiting anxiety and depressive symptoms. Early intervention programs for college students with mental health problems should be considered to enhance their mental health literacy and to increase their physical activities.
Highlights
The World Health Organization Mental Health Action 2013– 2020 put forward that “mental health may be positively influenced by self-confidence and life satisfaction but negatively affected by mental disorders, such as depressive, anxiety and suicide” [1]
Our survey was conducted in late May and early July, the COVID-19 epidemic situation in the investigation area has been effectively controlled to a certain extent, and most college students have adapted to living at home, which may be a reason of the lower rate of the depressive and anxiety symptoms [31]
Our results indicated anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms were associated with low family economic status, cigarette and alcohol use, which was reported in previous studies [33, 34]
Summary
The World Health Organization Mental Health Action 2013– 2020 put forward that “mental health may be positively influenced by self-confidence and life satisfaction but negatively affected by mental disorders, such as depressive, anxiety and suicide” [1]. The prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms has increased worldwide. The Healthy Minds Network found that the rates of depressive and anxiety symptoms among college students have raised from 22.0 and 17.2% in 2007, and to 36.6 and 30.9% in 2020 [3]. A large-scale webbased survey for Chinese colleges showed that about 45% of the participants had mental health problems, and the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms were 21.1 and 11.0%, respectively [4]. Depressive and anxiety symptoms are common mental health problems experienced by college students that can have an enormous impact on one’s interpersonal relationships, quality-of-life, academic difficulties, and working abilities, and in severe cases can lead to suicide, which have been receiving more and more attentions [5, 6]. The factors that place college students at risk of depressive and anxiety symptoms are complex and interactive, but the identification of these factors plays an important role in preventing or alleviating depressive and anxiety symptoms
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