Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38658437›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of behavioral medicine2025

Longitudinal Associations Between Physical Activity and Depressive Symptoms in Chinese Children: Evidence from the Tongji Mental Health Cohort Study.

Zhen Xiang, Haoxue Wang, Kaiheng Zhu, Qi Jiang, Yanan Feng, Jun Tang, Ranran Song

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Article in International journal of behavioral medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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1 citing paper in PubMed, 0 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Zhen XiangDepartment of Maternal and Child Health and MOE (Ministry of Education) Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Haoxue WangDepartment of Maternal and Child Health and MOE (Ministry of Education) Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Kaiheng ZhuDepartment of Maternal and Child Health and MOE (Ministry of Education) Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Qi JiangDepartment of Maternal and Child Health and MOE (Ministry of Education) Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Yanan FengDepartment of Maternal and Child Health and MOE (Ministry of Education) Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Jun TangDepartment of Children's Rehabilitation, Wuhan Psychology Hospital, Wuhan Mental Health Center, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China. tangjun_9023@163.com.
Ranran SongDepartment of Maternal and Child Health and MOE (Ministry of Education) Key Lab of Environment and Health, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan, Hubei, China. songranran@hust.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8354-7698
Huazhong University of Science and Technology · CNWuhan Children's Hospital · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundWe aimed to examine the associations between depressive symptoms and physical activity parameters (e.g., intensity, frequency, and duration) among Chinese school-aged children.

methodParticipants in this study were extracted from the Tongji Mental Health Cohort Study. The baseline survey was conducted in June 2020 involving 2588 school-aged children from two primary schools in Hubei Province, China. A total of 2435 children were followed up successfully in December 2020. The Children's Depression Inventory Short Form (CDI-S) was applied to evaluate depressive symptoms among school-aged children. The Physical Activity Rating Scale-3 (PARS-3) was adopted to estimate children's physical activity parameters including the intensity, frequency, and duration. Generalized estimation equation models were used to explore the longitudinal associations between physical activity and depressive symptoms among school-aged children.

resultsEngaging in moderate levels of physical activity (OR, 0.800; 95%CI, 0.692-0.924) or high levels of physical activity (OR, 0.808; 95%CI, 0.689-0.947) in the baseline survey was associated with a reduced risk of developing depressive symptoms in the follow-up survey compared with children engaging in low levels of physical activity. Stratified analyses revealed that the associations between physical activity and depressive symptoms exhibited a significant correlation among boys and children in the older age group (11-12 years). Our findings showed that engaging in physical activity more than once a week, with each session lasting 20 min or longer, was related to significant reductions in depressive symptoms by 43.8% and 22.3%, respectively.

conclusionSelf-reported physical activity is positively associated with improved mental health among Chinese school-aged children, especially when considering parameters such as frequency and duration. The association between vigorous-intensity physical activity and depressive symptoms in children should be cautiously interpreted. Future research should continue to explore the effects of vigorous-intensity physical activity on depressive symptoms in children.

Indexed as

DepressionExerciseChildChinaCohort StudiesEast Asian PeopleFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleMental HealthCohort studyDepressive symptomsPhysical activitySchool-aged children

Identifiers

PMID38658437
OpenAlexW4395114987

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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.