ReviewSports medicine and health science2025
Physical activity, exercise, and mental health of healthy adolescents: A review of the last 5 years.
Review in Sports medicine and health science, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of physical activity interventions on mental health in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention type and baseline risk as moderators.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Physical activity contexts and adolescent mental health: a systematic review of structured and unstructured approaches, 2015-2025.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- The mediating effect of resilience and self-efficacy between physical activity and wellbeing: a meta-analytic structural equation modeling.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Association of Weekly Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity with Subjective Vitality and Mental Toughness in Spanish Adolescents Aged 10-16 Years.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Sports Emotional Intelligence and Exercise Adherence in Adolescents: The Chain Mediating Role of Exercise Enjoyment and Exercise Identity.Journal of Intelligence · 2026Article
- Mediating effects of healthy lifestyle factors on associations between mental health and functional outcomes in early adolescence.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Physical Activity as a Mediator of the Relationship Between Mediterranean Diet Adherence and Anxiety Symptoms in Chilean Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Physical exercise and school adaptation among junior high school students: the chain mediating roles of self-efficacy and mental health.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Behavioral and Psychosocial Correlates of Gender Differences in Adolescent Mental Health: A Regional Cross-Sectional Study in Northern Italy.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A latent profile analysis of physical activity participation patterns and mental health among university students: the mediating role of emotion regulation.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Exercise Enjoyment and Exercise Addiction Risk Among Turkish Adults: Associations and Subgroup Differences in a Cross-Sectional Survey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Mediating Effects of Healthy Lifestyle Factors on Associations between Mental Health and Functional Outcomes in Early Adolescence.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Dietary and Lifestyle Factors Associated with Self-Esteem in Adolescents: An Exploratory Questionnaire-Based Study.Nutrients · 2026Article
- Association Between Weekly Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity and Emotional Intelligence Factors in Spanish Adolescents: Perspectives for Digital and Gamified Interventions.Journal of Intelligence · 2026Article
- Physical activity as a modest behavioral pathway between parental marital conflict and adolescent anxiety: exploring gender differences.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Association between physical activity and mental health among Yi students aged 10-18 years in Southwest China: a school-based cross-sectional study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Daytime sleepiness and academic engagement among university students: mind wandering as a partial mediator and physical activity as a limited moderator.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The association between physical activity and depressive symptoms in adolescents: the serial mediating roles of school connectedness and self-control.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Associations of sedentary behavior and weekday lifestyle with mental health among Chinese senior high school students.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Association of physical activity domains and television time with mental health profiles in Brazilian adolescents: a latent class analysis.Cadernos de saude publica · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The mental health of adolescents is a priority for successful development. Physical activity (PA) and exercise can have effects on the mental health of adolescents. This review analysed the effect that physical exercise interventions can have on the mental health of healthy adolescents between 10 and 19 years of age. The search was carried out in four databases. PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and SportDiscuss, were searched up to December 31, 2022, following the general model. Eleven studies were selected, with a total sample of 23 681 participants in 2 435 studies published in the last 5 years involving healthy adolescents. The search process and review of the articles was performed by independent expert investigators. The risk-of-bias and the methodological quality were analysed using the Cochrane scale. The limited and heterogeneous studies conducted so far do not clearly establish the benefits of PA on adolescents' mental health. However, some PA interventions seem to improve subjective well-being, self-esteem, physical and mental well-being, anxiety, lifestyle, emotional intelligence, depressive mood, and perceived benefit and confidence in healthy adolescents. It is important to design an effective and appropriate physical exercise programme that can be implemented for adolescents to achieve significant effects on their mental health. Studies that did not implement an appropriate exercise program with improvements in adolescent physical fitness showed no changes in psychological variables. Further research is needed to clearly establish that exercise programmes have positive effects on mental health in healthy adolescents.
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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.