Combined Patterns Of Physical Activity And Screen-Related Sedentary Behavior Among Chinese Adolescents And Their Correlations With Depression, Anxiety And Self-Injurious Behaviors

Mingli Liu; Jie Zhang; Elwin Hu; Huilan Yang; Chang Cheng; Shuqiao Yao

doi:10.2147/PRBM.S220075

Combined Patterns Of Physical Activity And Screen-Related Sedentary Behavior Among Chinese Adolescents And Their Correlations With Depression, Anxiety And Self-Injurious Behaviors

Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2019 Nov 11:12:1041-1050. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S220075. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Mingli Liu^{1

2

3}, Jie Zhang², Elwin Hu⁴, Huilan Yang⁵, Chang Cheng³, Shuqiao Yao³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, Hunan 411201, People's Republic of China.
² State University of New York Buffalo State Department of Sociology, NewYork, NY, USA.
³ Medical Psychological Institute, Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, People's Republic of China.
⁴ School of Psychology, Counselling and Psychotherapy, Cairnmillar Institute, Hawthorn East, VIC, Australia.
⁵ Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C2, Canada.

Abstract

Background and purpose: There are increasing concern about independent associations between physical activity, screen-based sedentary behavior (SSB), and psychological problems, but only a few studies have attempted to explore combined patterns of physical activity and SSB in adolescents and their correlations with psychological problems. This study was aimed at identifying combined patterns of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and SSB and examining the prevalence of different combined patterns and their correlations with depression, anxiety, and self-injurious behavior among Chinese adolescents.

Methods: Junior and senior high school students (N = 13,659; mean age 15.18±1.89) were recruited. Latent class analysis was conducted to identify combined patterns of MVPA and SSB. Associations between subgroups of MVPA and SSB and socio-demographic characteristics were assessed by logistic regression. Their correlation with depression, anxiety, and self-injurious behaviors was assessed by analysis of variance with analysis stratified by gender.

Results: Four latent classes were identified: high MVPA/low SSB group (64.7%), low MVPA/low SSB (26.7%), low MVPA/high SSB (4.8%), and low MVPA/moderate SSB (3.9%). Generally, the high MVPA/low SSB class was a relatively healthy group. The low MVPA/high SSB class was at risk of enduring depression, anxiety, and self-injurious behavior, with boys being more at risk than girls.

Conclusion: Four latent subgroups of MVPA and SSB were identified in Chinese adolescents. The findings highlight the potential role of concurrent MVPA and SSB, with gender-specific characteristics in the primary prevention of adolescent depression, anxiety, and self-injurious behaviors.

Keywords: exercise; internet; media use; mental health; subgroups; suicide.