Cross-sectional association between 24-hour movement guidelines and depressive symptoms in Chinese university students

Yanqing Zhang; Xinli Chi; Liuyue Huang; Xingyi Yang; Sitong Chen

doi:10.7717/peerj.17217

Cross-sectional association between 24-hour movement guidelines and depressive symptoms in Chinese university students

PeerJ. 2024 Apr 15:12:e17217. doi: 10.7717/peerj.17217. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Yanqing Zhang¹, Xinli Chi², Liuyue Huang³, Xingyi Yang⁴, Sitong Chen⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Education, Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an, China.
² School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
³ Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Science, University of Macau, Macau, China.
⁴ School of Physical Education, Shanghai University of Sport, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Centre for Mental Health, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.

Abstract

Background: The world's first 24-h movement guidelines for adults were released on 15 October 2020 in Canada, though evidence of their associations with health indicators in young adults is sparse. This study aimed to report the prevalence of meeting the 24-h movement guidelines and associations with depressive symptoms in a sample of Chinese university students.

Methods: Cross-sectional data from 1,793 Chinese university students (mean age = 20.7 years, 63.6% female) were used. Sociodemographic information, movement behaviors (physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep duration), and depressive symptoms were collected using a self-reported questionnaire.

Results: The prevalence of meeting the 24-h movement guidelines was 27.8% in Chinese university students. Logistic regression results show that compared to those who met the 24-h movement guidelines, odds ratio (OR) for depressive symptoms in those who met fewer recommendations contained in the 24-h movement guidelines were significantly higher (OR for none = 3.4, 95% CI [2.1-5.5], p < 0.001; OR for one = 2.7, 95% CI [2.0-3.8], p < 0.001; OR for two = 1.5, 95% CI [1.1-2.1], p = 0.013).

Conclusion: The prevalence of meeting the 24-h movement guidelines in Chinese university students was relatively low and should be enhanced through multiple strategies. Meeting the 24-h movement guidelines was associated with lower risk for depression in Chinese young adults. It is suggested that moving more, sitting less and sleeping well in this population may reduce the occurrence of depression.

Keywords: Depression; Physical activity; Sedentary behavior; Sleep; Young adults.

MeSH terms

Adult
Cross-Sectional Studies
Depression* / diagnosis
Exercise*
Female
Humans
Male
Students
Universities
Young Adult

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (grant number 16CSH049), and Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Foundation; Yang Liu was supported by Shanghai Sport Science Project (21Q007) from Shanghai Administration of Sports. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.