Family, school and neighborhood factors moderating the relationship between physical activity and some aspects of mental health in adolescents

Abstract

The impact of physical activity on mental health is widely described in literature. Less attention is given to factors which may modify this correlation, except for gender. The aim of this study was to conduct a qualitative assessment of such papers relating to children and young people. Selected papers were evaluated with regard to additional factors related to family, school and neighborhood. Attention was drawn to the definitions of these variables, the methods of analysis, and the content of the discussion. The starting point for this study included 7 systematic reviews published in 2006-2018. A total of 161 full articles described in detail in those reviews, and representing different research patterns, were selected for qualitative analysis. They met the criteria for the type of publication, mental health outcome, the direction of association, and the age group. A supplementary section of this paper contains a review of Polish literature from the Polish Medical Bibliography, and an analysis of national studies and some more recent papers not included in the analyzed reviews. It was demonstrated that 33 papers analyzed environmental variables to a greater degree than the characteristics of the sample. Twenty-three papers containing the results of statistical analyses were considered to be of particular interest. Almost 50% of these included both the socioeconomic position of the family and the characteristics of the neighborhood. However, only 1 featured stratification of the sample with regard to contextual environmental variables. The obtained results are of great practical importance. Firstly, development of the research into environmental moderators should be advocated. Secondly, the social context in which adolescents grow up should be taken into account when designing intervention programs.

The Moderating Role of Sociodemographic Factors in the Relationship between Physical Activity and Subjective Well-Being in Chilean Children and Adolescents

“…The relationship between physical activity habits and subjective well-being becomes stronger in “non-vulnerable” subjects. One of the difficulties in contrasting with the literature is the variety of socioeconomic conditions described in the research, which makes it difficult to establish their role with precision [ 43 ]. Despite the above, Booker et al [ 6 ] point out that higher levels of well-being may be explained in non-vulnerable populations by the interaction of related factors such as the level of education of the parents, living conditions and the environment [ 54 ].…”

“…In this context, moderation analyses emerge, from a statistical perspective [ 42 ], as an adequate alternative that clearly identify how gender, age and socioeconomic status can modify the relationship between physical activity habits and SWB. In this sense, the moderating effect of sociodemographic factors and the possible interaction of these moderations could broaden the understanding of the relationship between physical activity habits and well-being and their determining factors in children and adolescents [ 43 ].…”

Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviours and Duration of Sleep as Factors Affecting the Well-Being of Young People against the Background of Environmental Moderators

“…The effect of parental support on fulfilling recommendations for the desirable amount of exercise on weekdays and weekends was also confirmed by Czech researchers. The more active and supportive the parents, the more often the children are likely to fulfil WHO requirements concerning PA; conversely, the more time parents spend on sedentary activities, the less likely their children are to adhere to these recommendations [40].…”

Factors associated with physical activity levels in late adolescence: a prospective study

“…Therefore, the promotion of reaching an appropriate PAL should begin at an early age [4]. For this reason, there is growing interest in research focusing on factors associated with PAL in different periods of life, and one of the promising approaches is the identification of the factors associated with "changes in PAL" over a certain period of time [5,6].…”