Canadian 24-h Movement Guidelines, Life Stress, and Self-Esteem Among Adolescents

Hugues Sampasa-Kanyinga; Amanda Lien; Hayley A Hamilton; Jean-Philippe Chaput

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2022.702162

Canadian 24-h Movement Guidelines, Life Stress, and Self-Esteem Among Adolescents

Front Public Health. 2022 Feb 25:10:702162. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.702162. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Hugues Sampasa-Kanyinga^{1

2}, Amanda Lien³, Hayley A Hamilton^{4

5}, Jean-Philippe Chaput^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
² School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
³ Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁵ Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Background: Adolescence is often considered a period of heightened stress, and healthy active living behaviors may help those experiencing it to better cope with life stressors and increase their self-esteem. The 24-h movement guidelines for children and adolescents recommend ≥60 min per day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, ≤ 2-h per day of recreational screen time, and 9-11-h of sleep per night for school-aged children or 8-10-h per night for adolescents. The objective of this study was to examine the association of meeting the 24-h movement guidelines with life stress and self-esteem among students in Ontario, Canada.

Methods: Self-reported data on movement behaviors, life stress and self-esteem were derived from the 2019 cycle of the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, a cross-sectional and province-wide survey of students in grades 7-12 aged 11 to 20 years (N = 6,932). Multivariable ordered logistic regression analyses were adjusted for the complex sample design of the survey and for important covariates.

Results: Overall, meeting all combinations of movement behavior recommendations were associated with lower life stress and better self-esteem compared with meeting none of the recommendations, except meeting the physical activity only or screen time only recommendations that were not associated with lower life stress. Meeting all 3 recommendations was associated with lower life stress (OR: 0.40; 95 CI: 0.30-0.53) and better self-esteem (OR: 0.29; 95% CI: 0.21-0.40). There was a dose-response gradient between the number of recommendations met (3 > 2 > 1) and lower life stress (p < 0.001) and higher self-esteem (p < 0.001), with meeting all 3 recommendations being the best combination.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that meeting the recommendations of the 24-h movement guidelines is associated with lower life stress and better self-esteem among adolescents.

Keywords: adolescents; physical activity; screen time; self-esteem; sleep; stress.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Child
Cross-Sectional Studies
Exercise*
Humans
Ontario
Screen Time
Self Concept*
Stress, Psychological*
Young Adult