Physical activity in early adolescence predicts depressive symptoms 3 years later: A community-based study

Johan Isaksson,Eva Noren Selinus,Cecilia Åslund,Kent W Nilsson

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2020.09.008

Abstract

BackgroundPhysical activity (PA) during adolescence is associated with a wide range of health benefits, including lower levels of internalizing and externalizing problems. Although the association between PA and mental health has been established, there are few prospective studies investigating if the association between PA and internalizing/externalizing symptoms remains after adjustment for the baseline occurrence of such symptoms, and those exploring any sex-specific pattern of the association. MethodsSwedish adolescents (N = 1428; mean age = 14.38 years) were assessed and followed up 3 years later. Self-reported data were collected for PA (recoded as low, moderate and high levels), internalizing (depression and anxiety) and externalizing (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and disruptive behaviours) symptoms. A full path analysis was used to determine the main and interaction effects of PA and sex on internalizing/externalizing symptoms 3 years later, adjusting for these symptoms at baseline. ResultsHigher levels of PA were correlated with lower internalizing/externalizing symptoms. In the full path analysis, PA during early adolescence predicted lower levels of depressive symptoms, but not anxiety or externalizing problems, 3 years later. A sex-specific effect of PA on depressive symptoms was found, wherein boys, but not girls, with high levels of PA showed reduced symptoms. LimitationsIncluding parental ratings, diagnostic assessments and objective measures of PA would have provided additional information to the study. ConclusionsLow levels of PA during early adolescence are a unique predictor for the development of depressive symptoms among boys. PA should be considered when discussing prevention and treatment for depression in adolescents.

Highlights

Physical activity (PA) during childhood and adolescence has been associated with a wide range of health benefits, including improvement in indicators of physical health such as blood cholesterol level, blood pressure and obesity (Janssen and LeBlanc, 2010), as well as indicators for mental health (Biddle and Asare, 2011; Biddle et al, 2019)
In addi tion, because there is evidence that sex differences may exist with re gard to all types of mental health problems (Rescorla et al, 2012), we investigated any sex-specific effect on the association between PA and symptoms of depression, anxiety, ADHD and conduct problems
There was a sex difference in PA (χ2 = 10.52; p = .005) with girls reporting more of moderate levels of PA (48.4% of the girls compared to 41.6% of the boys) and boys reporting more of high levels of PA (41.7% of the boys compared to 33.4% of the girls)

Summary

Introduction

Physical activity (PA) during childhood and adolescence has been associated with a wide range of health benefits, including improvement in indicators of physical health such as blood cholesterol level, blood pressure and obesity (Janssen and LeBlanc, 2010), as well as indicators for mental health (Biddle and Asare, 2011; Biddle et al, 2019). Even though most research on the association between PA and mental health has been conducted on adult populations, recent reviews on both clinical and community samples have stressed that PA inter vention for children and adolescents reduce levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in general (Spruit et al, 2016), and for symp toms of depression (Biddle et al, 2019) and attention-deficit/hyper activity disorder (ADHD) (Ng et al, 2017), with effect sizes ranging. Self-reported data were collected for PA (recoded as low, moderate and high levels), internalizing (depression and anxiety) and externalizing (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and disruptive behaviours) symptoms. In the full path analysis, PA during early adolescence predicted lower levels of depressive symptoms, but not anxiety or ex ternalizing problems, 3 years later. PA should be considered when discussing prevention and treatment for depression in adolescents

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