ArticleFrontiers in psychology2020
The Big Three Health Behaviors and Mental Health and Well-Being Among Young Adults: A Cross-Sectional Investigation of Sleep, Exercise, and Diet.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Biochemical, Molecular and Behavioral Changes Induced by High-fat and High-sugar Diets: A Systematic Review of Non-clinical Studies.Molecular neurobiology · 2026Pooled it
- Co-adapting a healthy sleep intervention with adolescents: impact and process evaluation of a Health CASCADE pilot study.BMC public health · 2025Trial
- Cumulative effect of multiple health and social factors on adolescent mental well-being: a cross-sectional study in Catalonia.Child and adolescent mental health · 2026Article
- The Relationship Between Combined Lifestyle Behaviors and Mental Illness in Emerging Adults: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Depression trends in Europe: sociodemographic differences.European journal of public health · 2026Article
- Article
- Socioeconomic inequalities and health behaviours in depression: a picture of mental health in Portugal.European journal of public health · 2026Article
- Exploratory assessment of the correlates of lifestyle medicine among Spanish university students: UNILIFE-M study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Establishment, Implementation, and Impacts of the Observatory on Student Mental Health in Higher Education in Quebec, Canada: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Research Program.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Predictive factors of Black American emerging adults' psychological flourishing: a random forest analysis.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Breakfast frequency and psychosomatic complaints among adolescents: a repeated cross-sectional analysis of the HBSC study.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Article
- Associations between body image, well-being and eating behaviors in Lebanese adults aged between 18 and 35 years: a cross-sectional study.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Psychometric testing of the teacher food and nutrition-related health and wellbeing questionnaire.BMC public health · 2026Article
- How culture and environment reshape the adoption and effectiveness of wearable diet monitoring in university students: an extended KANO-TAM-SEM model study using Taiwan as an example.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Layered vulnerabilities in young adults with major depressive disorder: personality, coping, and cognition.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Context-aware digital nutrition and abdominal acoustic feedback in Taiwanese university students: a 12-week single-arm field intervention and a separate 4-week randomized feasibility pilot.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Beyond entertainment: how intangible cultural heritage in video games shapes youth cultural identity.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Physical activity and wellbeing among pre-service helping professionals: the role of lifestyle in a Hungarian university sample.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Multidimensional Lifestyle Profiles and Psychological Outcomes in University Students: A Cluster Analysis Approach.Journal for person-oriented research · 2026Article
- Lifestyle Behaviors and Cognitive Well-Being: A Cross-Sectional Study Exploring the Role of Lifestyle Factors Among Omani University Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Abstract
backgroundSleep, physical activity, and diet have been associated with mental health and well-being individually in young adults. However, which of these "big three" health behaviors most strongly predicts mental health and well-being, and their higher-order relationships in predictive models, is less known. This study investigated the differential and higher-order associations between sleep, physical activity, and dietary factors as predictors of mental health and well-being in young adults.
methodIn a cross-sectional survey design, 1,111 young adults (28.4% men) ages 18-25 from New Zealand and the United States answered an online survey measuring typical sleep quantity and quality; physical activity; and consumption of raw and processed fruit and vegetables, fast food, sweets, and soda, along with extensive covariates (including demographics, socioeconomic status, body mass index, alcohol use, smoking, and health conditions) and the outcome measures of depressive symptoms [measured by the Center for Epidemiological Depression Scale (CES-D)] and well-being (measured by the Flourishing Scale).
resultsControlling for covariates, sleep quality was the strongest predictor of depressive symptoms and well-being, followed by sleep quantity and physical activity. Only one dietary factor-raw fruit and vegetable consumption-predicted greater well-being but not depressive symptoms when controlling for covariates. There were some higher-order interactions among health behaviors in predicting the outcomes, but these did not survive cross-validation.
conclusionSleep quality is an important predictor of mental health and well-being in young adults, whereas physical activity and diet are secondary but still significant factors. Although strictly correlational, these patterns suggest that future interventions could prioritize sleep quality to maximize mental health and well-being in young adults.
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