Cross-sectional associations between physical activity pattern, sports participation, screen time and mental health in Swedish adolescents
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Objectives: To investigate the associations between physical activity pattern, sports participation, screen time and mental health in Swedish adolescents. Design, setting and participants: A total of 1139 Swedish adolescents (mean age 13.4) from 34 schools participated in the cross-sectional study ‘Physical Activity for Healthy Brain Functions in School Youth’ in 2019. Methods: Time spent sedentary and in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was measured using accelerometers for seven consecutive days. Screen time and sports participation were self-reported. Anxiety and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were assessed using a Short version of the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale and Kidscreen-10. Results: MVPA was positively associated (95% CI 0.01 to 0.05 in girls and 0.02 to 0.07 in boys) whereas screen time on weekdays was inversely associated with HRQoL (−4.79 to –2.22 in girls and −2.66 to –0.41 in boys). The largest effect sizes were observed between the high/low MVPA group in boys (Cohen’s d = 0.51) and screen time groups in girls (Cohen’s d = 0.59 on weekdays). With regards to anxiety, high compared with lower time spent in MVPA during leisure time on weekdays was associated with lower anxiety scores (95% CI −0.13 to –0.05 in girls and −0.07 to –0.01 in boys). Gender differences were observed, boys who participated in organised sports had low anxiety scores (95% CI −3.49 to –0.13) whereas girls who reported 5 hours or more of screen time had high scores (95% CI 1.94 to 6.18 on weekdays and 1.39 to 5.29 on weekend days). Conclusions: This study showed that MVPA was associated with better mental health, whereas the opposite was seen for screen time. These associations were not consistently significant throughout all time domains, between the genders and mental health outcomes. Our results could create a paradigm for future studies to decide which types of PA patterns and time domains to target in intervention studies with the aim improve mental health among adolescents.
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Girls who reported ≥5 h of ST on weekdays or weekends had higher anxiety scores compared to those who reported up to 2 h, even controlling for MVPA.
“Girls who reported ≥ 5 h of ST on weekdays or weekends had higher anxiety scores compared to those who reported up to 2 h, even controlling for moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), in a recent survey [25].”
From The associations between screen time and mental health in adolescents: a systematic review (2023) · cites this paper as [25]
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“Our results could create a paradigm for future studies to decide which types of PA patterns and time domains to target in intervention studies with the aim improve mental health among adolescents.”
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The associations between screen time and mental health in adolescents: a systematic review
Santos, R. M. S., Mendes, C. G., Sen Bressani, G. Y., de Alcantara Ventura, S., de Almeida Nogueira, Y. J., de Miranda, D. M., & Romano-Silva, M. A. (2023) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-023-01166-7 · Cited by 311 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kjellenberg, K., Ekblom, O., Ahlen, J., Helgadóttir, B., & Nyberg, G.
- Affiliations
- Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (SE)
- Physical Activity and Health, Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, GIH, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Kjellenberg, Karin
- Venue
- BMJ Open
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2022-08
- Volume
- 12
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- e061929
- ISSN
- 2044-6055 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9351317
- OpenAlex
- W4289444488
- Cited by
- 38
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 4.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- BMJ Open (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Diva portal (Dalarna University Library) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- IKEA (20180040)
- Swedish Crown Princess Couple’s Foundation/Generation Pep (20180040)
- Coop (20180040)
- Knowledge Foundation (20180040)
- Stockholm Consumer Cooperative Society (20180040)
- Skanska (20180040)
- Skandia (20180040)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Social Sciences › Life-span and Life-course Studies › Sports and Physical Education Studies
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Youth Development and Social Support
- Keywords
- physical activity patterns, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, sedentary behavior, screen time, sports participation, adolescent mental health, anxiety, health-related quality of life, gender differences, time domain, school youth
- MeSH terms
- Screen Time, Adolescent, Child, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Quality of Life, Sweden, Exercise, Accelerometry
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