ArticleMental health and physical activity2022
The association of physical activity, sleep, and screen time with mental health in Canadian adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal isotemporal substitution analysis.
Article in Mental health and physical activity, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- 24-hour movement behaviours and mental health in non-clinical populations: A systematic review.PloS one · 2025Pooled it
- Mental health of Canadian youth: A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies examining changes in depression, anxiety, and suicide-related outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique · 2024Pooled it
- Associations of reallocating time between physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep with mental health among Chinese adolescents: an isotemporal substitution analysis.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2026Article
- Mental health trajectories of children and adolescents up to 5 years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2026Article
- Physical activity, sedentary behavior, and adolescent health: a narrative review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Cross-country variability in Mediterranean lifestyle adherence and its psychosocial and behavioural correlates: insights from the MEDIET4ALL project across 10 Mediterranean and neighboring countries.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Research characteristics about the 24-h movement behaviors in children and adolescents: a scoping review.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Threat of coronavirus and depressive symptoms in adolescents: do 24-hour movement behaviors mediate this relationship?BMC public health · 2025Article
- Recreational screen time and mental health among Canadian children and youth.Health promotion and chronic disease prevention in Canada : research, policy and practice · 2025Article
- Pre-sleep screen time and screen time addiction as shared determinants of poor sleep and obesity in adolescents aged 11-14 years in Scotland.BMC global and public health · 2025Article
- Associations of 24-hour movement behaviors with emotional and behavioral problems among Chinese adolescents.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Article
- Replacement of sedentary behavior with various physical activities and the risk of incident depression: a prospective analysis of accelerator-measured and self-reported UK Biobank data.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2024Article
- Effects of replacing sedentary time with alterations in physical activity or sleep on mood states in Chinese young adults during the pandemic.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Associations between 24-h movement behaviors and indicators of mental health and well-being across the lifespan: a systematic review.Journal of activity, sedentary and sleep behaviors · 2024Review
- Paediatricians' awareness of Canadian screen time guidelines, perception of screen time use, and counselling during the COVID-19 pandemic.Paediatrics & child health · 2023Article
- Subgroups of perceptions and related behaviors during the COVID-19 lockdown: experience of adolescents in the PARIS birth cohort.Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health · 2023Article
- Physical Activity, Screen Time, and Academic Burden: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Health among Chinese Adolescents.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Bidirectional associations of physical activity, sleep, and self-reported mental health in young adults participating in an online wellness intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: The impact of COVID-19 on adolescent mental health is a global concern. Increased screen time and reduced physical activity due to the lockdown measures have been linked to detrimental mental health outcomes; however, the literature remains limited by cross-sectional and retrospective designs, and consideration of behaviours in isolation. Prospective evidence is necessary to examine whether moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), sleep and screen time influenced changes in mental health. Method: Analyses used data from a prospective cohort study of secondary school students in Canada with baseline data from the 2018-2019 school year and linked follow-up data from online surveys completed during the initial COVID-19 outbreak (May-July 2020). Multilevel linear regression models were used to evaluate the within- and between-person isotemporal substitution effects of sleep, MVPA and screen time behaviours on depression, anxiety, subjective well-being, and trait emotional dysregulation. Results: Linked longitudinal data from 2645 students attending 44 schools were available. Between-person effects indicated that individuals who engaged in more MVPA and sleep while minimizing screen time had lower depression scores, less severe emotional dysregulation, and better subjective well-being. While controlling for between-person effects, within-person year-on-year change suggests those who increased screen time while decreasing either MVPA or sleep experienced mental health decline on all outcomes. Conclusion: MVPA and sleep were associated with youth mental health during the early COVID-19 lockdown. Increasing MVPA and sleep (or at least mitigating the increase of screen time) compared to the prior year was associated with better mental health during the early pandemic. A limitation to consider is that the screen time measure represents a combination of screen behaviours, and effects of replacing screen time may have varied if distinctions were made.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.