ArticleBMC public health2025
Threat of coronavirus and depressive symptoms in adolescents: do 24-hour movement behaviors mediate this relationship?
Article in BMC public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of adolescents worldwide, increasing their risk of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Daily behaviors like physical activity, screen use, and sleep are thought to influence emotional well-being, but it remains unclear how they interact with pandemic-related stressors. This study investigated whether these 24-hour movement behaviors help explain the link between adolescents’ perceived threat of the coronavirus and symptoms of depression.
methodsWe conducted a cross-sectional survey with 1,303 adolescents (50.96% female; average age = 16.32 years, SD = 1.10) in Northeast Brazil between August and October 2021. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Structural equation modeling was used to test whether physical activity, recreational screen time, and sleep duration mediated the association between perceived coronavirus threat and depressive symptoms.
resultsThe perceived threat of the coronavirus was directly associated with higher depressive symptoms (ß: 0.163; p value < 0.001). Additionally, each movement behavior showed a significant association with depression: more physical activity (ß: -0.084; p value < 0.01) and longer sleep (ß: -0.167; p value < 0.001) were linked to fewer symptoms, while greater recreational screen time was related to more (ß: 0.130; p value < 0.001). However, none of these behaviors explained the pathway between perceived threat and depressive symptoms, suggesting that other factors—such as emotional regulation, social support, or family dynamics—may better account for this link.
conclusionWhile the movement behaviors did not mediate the effect of the perceived coronavirus threat on depression, they were still independently related to mental health. These findings support the value of promoting healthy daily routines among adolescents during pandemics and as part of broader mental health strategies. Public health interventions should consider these behaviors as protective factors that may help reduce the burden of depression in future crises.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.