A time compositional analysis of the association between movement behaviors and indicators of mental health in young adults

Abstract

BackgroundMovement behaviors (i.e., physical activity [PA], sedentary behaviors [SB], sleep) relate to mental health. Although movement behaviors are often analyzed as distinct entities, they are in fact highly inter‐dependent (e.g., if an individual increases sleep, then PA and/or SB must be reduced) and these dependencies should be accounted for in the analysis. We tested whether perceptions of time spent in movement behaviors (i.e., moderate‐to‐vigorous intensity PA [MVPA], light physical activity [LPA], SB, and sleep) related to depressive symptoms and self‐report mental health in young adults using a compositional analysis. We then estimated change in depressive symptoms with reallocation of time across movement behaviors using compositional time‐reallocation models.MethodsData were drawn from the longitudinal NDIT dataset. Complete data were available for 770 young adults (Mage = 20.3, 55% females).ResultsThe proportion of time spent in MVPA relative to other movement behaviors related to depressive symptoms non‐significantly and to mental health significantly. Reallocating 15 min from MVPA to SB resulted in a significant (0.46 unit) increase in depressive symptoms, and reallocating 15 min of MVPA to LPA was associated with a (0.57) increase in depressive symptoms.ConclusionThese results indicate the importance of relative time spent in each movement behavior to mental health. Further research should examine these associations over time.

Prospective association between 24-hour movement behaviors and mental health among overweight/obese college students: a compositional data analysis approach

“…This study found that the reallocations from LPA, SSB, and NSB to MVPA were significantly associated with lower depression, anxiety, and stress symptom scores, which is consistent with previous studies with college students ( 19 , 33 ). Adults showed a downwards trend in PA levels due to pandemic-related restrictions ( 34 ).…”

“…Since there is scarce evidence on 24-h movement behaviors among young adults who are overweight or obese, we are not able to make comparisons with the same population. However, compared to the general young adults in previous studies, our study participants exhibited prolonged periods of sedentary behavior while displaying shorter episodes of LPA and MVPA ( 19 , 30 ). Arigo et al ( 31 ) discovered that impulsivity poses a risk to decreasing MVPA among college students with obesity risk ( 31 ).…”

“…A cross-sectional study of Japanese workers reported that time spent on sleeping was positively related to mental health indicators, whereas time spent on SB or LPA was negatively related ( 18 ). Additionally, a recent longitudinal study showed that reallocating 15 min from MVPA to sedentary time or LPA resulted in a significant deterioration in depressive symptoms among young adults, with 0.46 units and 0.57 units, respectively ( 19 ). However, to our knowledge, no study explored the association between 24-h movement behaviors and mental health in overweight/obese college students using compositional methods.…”