ArticleThe international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2021
Bi-directional relationships between physical activity and mental health among a large sample of Canadian youth: a sex-stratified analysis of students in the COMPASS study.
Article in The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Physical Activity and Adolescent Mental Health in China: The Mediating Role of Social Capital.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Sleep Problems in Children with ADHD: Associations with Internalizing Symptoms and Physical Activity.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- The mediating and moderating roles of physical sub-health in the relationship between family functioning and mental health problems among Chinese adolescents.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Can physical exercise alleviate social anxiety in junior high school students by improving body image?Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Associations between 24-hour movement behaviours and psychological wellbeing in adolescents using compositional data analysis.Journal of activity, sedentary and sleep behaviors · 2025Article
- Non-linear dose-response association between physical activity and mental health in adolescents: a prospective cohort study based on SEARCH.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2025Article
- Sociodemographic and Lifestyle Factors Associated with Adolescent Mental Ill-Health: a Decision Tree Analysis.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2025Article
- Sleep Quality and Sex-Specific Physical Activity Benefits Predict Mental Health in Romanian Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Associations between adhering to 24-hour movement guidelines and anxiety among adolescents across intersectional identities: KYRBS 2020-2022.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The relationship between self-reported and device-based measurements of physical activity and mental distress among adolescents: results from the fit futures study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Longitudinal Associations Between Physical Activity and Depressive Symptoms in Chinese Children: Evidence from the Tongji Mental Health Cohort Study.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2025Article
- Prospective Relations Between Self-Concept and Adolescent Physical Education Participation: A Sex Stratified Analysis.Journal of adolescence · 2025Article
- Anxiety, Sleep Problems, and Vigorous Physical Activity: Bidirectional Associations from Early Adolescence to Early Adulthood in Swedish Adolescents.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2024Article
- Validating Constructs of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 and Exploring Health Indicators to Predict the Psychological Outcomes of Students Enrolled in the Pacific Islands Cohort of College Students.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Association between screen time and physical activity on mental health among preschoolers: a cross-sectional study from Southwest China.BMC public health · 2024Observational
- Investigation of the relationship between mental health and physical activity among university students.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Article
- Relationships between employment status with self-perceived mental and physical health in Canada.AIMS public health · 2024Article
- The benefits of nurturant-involved parenting for children's internalizing symptoms and cardiometabolic health in high-risk contexts.Development and psychopathology · 2023Article
- The impact of 12 modifiable lifestyle behaviours on depressive and anxiety symptoms in middle adolescence: prospective analyses of the Canadian longitudinal COMPASS study.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2023Article
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6 authors.
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Abstract
objectiveThe aim of this research was to examine the bidirectional association between self-reported symptoms of mental disorder and physical activity among a large sample of Canadian secondary school students over time.
methodsLinked survey data were obtained from 28,567 grade 9 to 12 students across Canada participating in two waves of the COMPASS Study (2017-18; 2018-19). Autoregressive cross-lagged models were run to examine the reciprocal relationships between self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and symptoms of depression (CESD-10) and anxiety (GAD-7). Models were stratified by gender, and accounted for grade, ethno-racial identity, and school-level clustering.
resultsAutoregressive associations show that neither symptoms of anxiety nor depression, at baseline, were predictive of mean MVPA at follow-up - consistent for the full sample and among both males and females. Higher MVPA among males at baseline was associated with lower symptoms of both anxiety (β = - 0.03, p = 0.002) and depression (β = - 0.05, p < 0.001) at follow-up. However, among females, higher MVPA at baseline was associated with greater symptoms of anxiety (β = 0.03, p < 0.001), but not symptoms of depression (β = 0.01, p = 0.073), at follow-up.
conclusionIn our large sample of Canadian secondary school students, associations between physical activity and symptoms of mental disorder were not bi-directional, and these relationships differed in males and females. This study illustrates the complex nature of the relationship between physical activity and symptoms of mental disorder among youth. While results support the benefits of promoting physical activity among males to prevent or manage internalizing symptoms, the relationship among females warrants further investigation.
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