A Correlation Study On Physical Activity,Sedentary Behavior And Self-Rated Health Of Children And Adolescents

Objective: Physical and mental health problems such as depression and obesity among children and adolescents in China are becoming more and more serious.Selfrated health is one of the best indicators to reflect the impact of children’s and adolescents’ behavior on their physical and mental health.Physical activity and sedentary behavior are important health-related behavioral factors in children and adolescents,and both are closely related to physical and mental health problems such as depression and obesity in children and adolescents.Research on the correlation between physical activity,sedentary behavior and self-rated health of children and adolescents in China is highly scarce.Exploring the correlation between physical activity,sedentary behavior,and the physical and mental health of children and adolescents through self-rated health can provide guiding ideas and methods for solving physical and mental health problems,such as anxiety,depression and obesity in China.This study aims to analyze the correlation between physical activity,sedentary behavior and self-rated health among children and adolescents and the correlation among different genders and school stages,and to provide theoretical support for future related research and practical ideas for policies related to child and adolescent health promotion.Methods: In this study,through the literature method review,the previous relevant literature was retrieved from five domestic and foreign databases,including CNKI,Wanfang,Web of Science,Pub Med and EBSCOhost,and all retrieved literature was imported into Endnote X9 for sorting and screening.Finally,the literature analysis and summary laid the theoretical foundation for this study.Four thousand thirty-six primary and secondary school children and adolescents(average age 12.9±2.6 years old,girls accounted for 50.6%)in Shanghai,Jiangsu Province and Anhui Province were investigated through self-report questionnaires to explore the physical activity(moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity,school-based physical activity and out-of-school physical activity),sedentary behavior(screen time and homework time),and self-rated health of children and adolescents.Using SPSS26.0 for statistical analysis,mathematical statistics were used for data analysis,and descriptive statistics analyzed basic information;the situation of physical activity,sedentary behavior and self-rated health among children and adolescents of different genders and school stages was analyzed by chi-square test;The correlation between physical activity,sedentary behavior and self-rated health among children and adolescents of different genders and school stages was analyzed by Spearman’s correlation analysis and binary logistic regression analysis.Results: Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity < 1 hour per day(school day,r =0.109,p < 0.001;weekend,r = 0.168,p < 0.001;whole week,r = 0.134,p < 0.001),school-based physical activity(r = 0.064,p < 0.001)and out-of-school physical activity(r = 0.097,p < 0.001)≤ 1 hour per day were both significantly and positively correlated with poorer self-rated health.Children and adolescents’ sedentary behavior time(weekend,r = 0.090,p < 0.001;whole week,r = 0.087,p < 0.001),screen time(weekend,r = 0.095,p < 0.001;whole week,r = 0.094,p < 0.001),and homework time(school days,r = 0.079,p < 0.001;weekends,r = 0.077,p < 0.001;whole week,r =0.090,p < 0.001)> 2 hours per day were significantly positively correlated with poorer self-rated health status.In different genders,taking children and adolescents who achieved at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day as a reference,girls who did not achieve at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity throughout the week were more likely to report poorer self-rated health than boys(girls,OR = 3.29,95%CI = 2.09-5.18;boys,OR = 1.94,95%CI = 1.42-2.64).In the remaining physical activity indicators,boys who did not meet the standard were more likely to think that their health status was poor than girls.On the contrary,girls who fail to meet the standard of sedentary behavior are more likely to report poorer self-rated health than boys.In different school stages,the substandard physical activity indicators of primary school students(moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on school day,r = 0.065,p = 0.042;moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on weekends,r = 0.091,p = 0.005;moderate-to-vigorous physical activity throughout the week,r = 0.079,p =0.014;school-based physical activity,r = 0.116,p < 0.001;out-of-school physical activity,r = 0.078,p = 0.015)and junior high school students(moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on school days,r = 0.095,p < 0.001;moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on weekends,r = 0.172,p < 0.001;moderate-to-vigorous physical activity throughout the week,r = 0.136,p < 0.001;school-based physical activity,r = 0.055,p= 0.010;out-of-school physical activity,r = 0.108,p < 0.001)were significantly correlated with poorer self-rated health.Conclusion: Children and adolescents who have a sufficient physical activity are more likely to have better self-rated health status.Boys with less physical activity time are more likely to have poorer health status than girls.Conversely,girls with more sedentary behavior time are more likely to have poorer health status than boys.Primary and junior high school students with insufficient physical activity are more likely to self-rated poorer health status than high school students.It is recommended to urge children and adolescents to actively participate in physical activity,to ensure the physical activity level of students in school,and to call on students to participate in outof-school physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior time.In addition,future research can conduct long-term longitudinal studies on the relationship between physical activity,sedentary behavior and self-rated health in children and adolescents.