| Background Low levels of physical activity (PA) and high amounts of screen time(ST) contribute to the onset and maintenance of various serious health problems inadolescents. But research on the relationships between PA, ST and mental healthamong adolescents in China is still in its infancy.Objectives To describe the prevalence of PA and ST among Chinese adolescents,and investigate whether PA and ST are associated with sociodemographic factors, andfurthermore, to test the relationships between PA, ST and self-reported psychologicalproblems among adolescents.Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted in junior high schools of Bengbucity in China. In2010, all the participants from4junior high schools were instructedto self-report informations on sociodemographic data, dietary intake, self-reported PA,self-reported sedentray behaviors (including ST) and psychological health (includingdepressive symtoms, anxiety symptoms and school life satisfaction). A total of5268valid questionnaires were retained for analysis. The mean age of the participatingstudents was13.2years (SD=1.0), and2499students were female. Meantime, heightand weight were measured to calculate body-mass index (BMI). Adolescents wereclassified as obese according to Chinese age and gender-specific cutoff points. Finally,5003students completed questionnaire and anthropometric measurements, and2606were male,2397students were female. Descriptive analyses were performed onadolescents’ sociodemographic characteristics. The Pearson chi-square tests were usedto compare the proportions of the independent variables versus dependent variables.Logistic regression analyses were used to analyze the possible factors affecting PA and ST, and furthermore explore the effects of PA and ST on adolescents’psychological problems.Results The percentage of adolescents who participated in sufficient moderate PA,sufficient vigorous PA and insufficient amount of PA were14.7%,36.0%and59.1%,respectively. And approximately26.6%of the adolescents were exposed to ST formore than2h d-1. There were strong associations between various sociodemographicvariables and PA, ST. Adolescents who reported sufficient moderate and vigorous PAwere more likely to be male and extroversion of personality, and adolescents whoreported insufficient PA were more likely to be female, introversion of personality,and worsen perceived socioeconomic status. Whether to be the single child in thefamily, family type, parental education and worsen perceived socioeconomic statuswere significantly correlated with television and computer usage on weekdays. Grade,whether to be the single child in the family, perceived weight status and parentaleducation were significantly correlated with television and computer usage onweekends.The prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and school lifedissatisfaction were23.8%,27.2%and24.8%, respectively. After adjusting onpotential confounders, such as sex, grade, single child, family type, perceivedsocioeconomic status, parental education, perceived weight status, obesity, fruit andvegetable intake and fizzy drinks intake, participants who had enaged in sufficientvigorous PA had odds ratios of0.76(0.66～0.88) and0.71(0.61～0.83) for likelihoodof being depressive symptoms and school life dissatisfaction, compared to theircounterparts who participating in insufficient vigorous PA. Participants who hadhigher ST had odds ratios of1.47(1.27～1.71),1.27(1.10～1.47) and1.79(1.54～2.08) for likelihood of being depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and school lifedissatisfaction. The combination of insufficient VPA and high ST was associated withthe highest prevalence of various psychological problems. Conclusions It is still far from being satisfactory about the situation of PA and STamong Chinese adolescents. Insufficient VPA and higher ST interact to increasedepressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms and school life dissatisfaction amongChinese adolescents. |
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