Cent Eur J Public Health 2009, 17(4):215-219 | DOI: 10.21101/cejph.a3546

The Influence of Individual and Regional Factors on Association between Leisure Time Physical Activity and Psychological Complaints among Adolescents in Europe

Gintare Petronyte, Apolinaras Zaborskis
Institute for Biomedical Research, Kaunas University of Medicine, Kaunas, Lithuania

The aim of this study was to examine the association between leisure time physical activity and psychological complaints among adolescents and to determine to what extent this association is mediated by individual and regional factors. Data from the 2005/06 Health Behaviour in School-aged children (HBSC) survey, composed of 106,319 respondents aged 11, 13 and 15 from 20 European countries was analysed. Multilevel modeling showed that individual factors (gender, age and family socioeconomic status) were significant mediators of the association between leisure time physical activity and psychological complaints. The mediating effect of individual factors differed in the magnitude of the association. Regional differences in this association were not found. The findings suggest that individual factors contribute in explaining the association between leisure time physical activity and psychological complaints among adolescents. Future research should examine country specific characteristics which may influence this association.

Keywords: physical activity, psychological complaints, adolescents, European countries

Received: January 30, 2009; Revised: April 23, 2009; Accepted: April 23, 2009; Published: December 1, 2009  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Petronyte G, Zaborskis A. The Influence of Individual and Regional Factors on Association between Leisure Time Physical Activity and Psychological Complaints among Adolescents in Europe. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2009;17(4):215-219. doi: 10.21101/cejph.a3546. PubMed PMID: 20377051.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Mental health: facing challenges, building solutions. Report from the WHO European Ministerial Conference. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2005.
    2. Kessler RC,Avenevoli S, Ries Merikangas K. Mood disorders in children and adolescents: an epidemiologic perspective. Biol Psychiatry. 2001 Jun 15;49(12):1002-14. Go to original source...
    3. Weller EB, Weller RA. Depression in adolescents growing pains or true morbidity? J Affect Disord. 2000 Dec;61 Suppl 1:S9-13. Go to original source...
    4. Groholt B, Ekeberg O, Wichstrom L, Haldorsen T.Young suicide attempters: a comparison between a clinical and an epidemiological sample. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2000 Jul;39(7):868-75. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    5. Stephen A, Leigh R, Graham M, Keeves J. Gender differences in the relationship between depression and suicidal ideation in young adolescents. Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 2001;35(4):498-503. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    6. Chabrol H, Rodgers R, Rousseau A. Relations between suicidal ideation and dimensions of depressive symptoms in high-school students. J Adolesc. 2007 Aug;30(4):587-600. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    7. Wasserman D, Cheng Q, Jiang GX. Global suicide rates among young people aged 15-19. World Psychiatry. 2005 Jun;4(2):114-20.
    8. Hultén A, Jiang GX, Wasserman D, Hawton K, Hjelmeland H, DeLeo D, et al. Repetition of attempted suicide among teenagers in Europe: frequency, timing and risk factors. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2001 Sep;10(3):161-9. Go to original source...
    9. Lawlor D, Campbell P. Exercise for depression. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2007;(2):CD004366. Go to original source...
    10. Larun L, Nordheim LV, Ekeland E, Hagen KB, Heian F. Exercise in prevention and treatment of anxiety and depression among children and young people. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006 Jul 19;(3): CD004691. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    11. Brosnahan J, Steffen LM, Lytle L, Patterson J, Boostrom A. The relation between physical activity and mental health among Hispanic and non-Hispanic white adolescents. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2004 Aug;158(8):818-23. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    12. Allison KR, Adlaf EM, Irving HM, Hatch JL, Smith TF, Dwyer JJ, et al. Relationship of vigorous physical activity to psychological distress among adolescents. J Adolesc Health. 2005 Aug;37(2):164-6. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    13. Ussher MH, Owen CG, Cook DG,Whincup PH.The relationship between physical activity, sedentary behaviour and psychological wellbeing among adolescents.SocPsychiatryPsychiatrEpidemiol.2007Oct;42(10):851-6. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    14. Kantomaa MT, Tammelin TH, Ebeling HE, Taanila AM. Mental health and physical inactivity in Finnish youth aged 15-16 years. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2007;39 Suppl 5:S48. Go to original source...
    15. Motl RW, Birnbaum AS, Kubik MY, Dishman RK. Naturally occurring changes in physical activity are inversely related to depressive symptoms during early adolescence. Psychosom Med. 2004 May-Jun;66(3):33642. Go to original source...
    16. Sagatun A, Søgaard AJ, Bjertness E, Selmer R, Heyerdahl S. The association between weekly hours of physical activity and mental health: a tree-year follow-up study of 15-16-year-old students in the city of Oslo, Norway. BMC Public Health. 2007 Jul 12;7:155. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    17. Cockerham WC. Medical sociology. 8th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall; 2001.
    18. Roberts C, Currie C, Samdal O, Currie D, Smith R, Maes L. Measuring the health and health behaviours of adolescents through cross-national survey research: recent developments in the Health Behaviour in Schoolaged Children (HBSC) study. J Public Health. 2007 Jun;15(3):179-86. Go to original source...
    19. Teychenne M, Ball K, Salmon J. Physical activity and likelihood of depression in adults: a review. Prev Med. 2008 May;46(5):397-411. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    20. Abu-Omar K, Rütten A, Lehtinen V. Mental health and physical activity in the European Union. Soz Praventivmed. 2004;49(5):301-9. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    21. Torsheim T, Ravens-Sieberer U, Hetland J, Välimaa R, Danielson M, Overpeck M. Cross-national variation of gender differences in adolescent subjective health in Europe and North America. Soc Sci Med. 2006 Feb;62(4):815-27. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    22. Tuinstra J, Groothoff JW, van den Heuvel WJ, Post D. Social-economic differences in health risk behavior in adolescence: do they exist? Soc Sci Med. 1998 Jul;47(1):67-74. Go to original source...
    23. Currie C, Molcho M, Boyce W, Holstein B, Torsheim T, Richter M. Researching health inequalities in adolescents: the development of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) family affluence scale. Soc Sci Med. 2008;66(6):1429-36. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    24. Booth ML, Okely AD, Chey T, Bauman A. The reliability and validity of the physical activity questions in the WHO health behaviour in schoolchildren (HBSC) survey: a population study. Br J Sports Med. 2001 Aug;35(4):263-67. Go to original source...
    25. Haugland S, Wold B, Stevenson J, Aaroe LE, Woynarowska B. Subjective health complaints in adolescence. A cross-national comparison of prevalence and dimensionality. Eur J Public Health. 2001 Mar;11(1): 4-10. Go to original source...

    Return to the content