Leisure-Time Sedentary Behavior Is Associated with Psychological Distress and Substance Use among School-Going Adolescents in Five Southeast Asian Countries: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Sedentary behavior has been found to be associated with poorer mental health. The aim of this study was to estimate associations of sedentary behavior with psychological distress and substance use among adolescents in five Southeast Asian countries. The cross-sectional sample included 32,696 nationally representative samples of school-going adolescents (median age 14 years) from Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, Thailand and Timor-Leste. Leisure-time sedentary behavior, physical activity, psychological distress and substance use were assessed by self-report. Overall, the students engaged in <1 h (35.7%), 1–2 h (31.6%), 3–4 h (18.2%), 5–6 h (7.2%), and 7 or more hours (7.2%) of sedentary time a day. The prevalence of psychological distress was 14.6% single and 8.6% multiple psychological distress, and the prevalence of current tobacco use was 13.9% and current alcohol use 12.5%. In fully adjusted multinomial logistic regression analysis, compared to students who spent less than one hour a day engaged in sedentary leisure time, students who spent three or more hours engaged in leisure-time sedentary behavior were more likely to have single and multiple psychological distress. In fully adjusted logistic regression analysis, five or more hours of leisure-time sedentary behavior was associated with current tobacco use and one or more hours of leisure-time sedentary behavior with current alcohol use. Findings suggest an association of leisure-time sedentary behavior with psychological distress and with substance use in this adolescent population.

Exploration of Alcohol Consumption Behaviours and Health-Related Influencing Factors of Young Adults in the UK

“…Another novel discovery from our study is that the levels of recreational sedentary screen-time in males is negatively and significantly associated with levels of alcohol consumption. We found that students who spent more time on recreational screen activities drank less alcohol, which contrasts with others describing a positive association [ 23 ]. A potential explanation may in part follow the displacement hypothesis wherein more attention is given to recreational screen-based activities and less interest (or less time) for social binge drinking.…”

“…Physical activity (PA) had been described to reduce the association between alcohol consumption and risk of death [ 21 ] whereas others had found an association between higher PA and high levels of alcohol consumption [ 22 ]. Another significant lifestyle factor was the amount of recreational sedentary screen-based activities, i.e., internet use and watching television, which was found to be associated with alcohol use [ 23 ]. The relation between high levels of alcohol consumption and recreational sedentary screen-time behaviour remains controversial with reports failing to observe any association between screen-based activities and alcohol [ 24 ], while others have documented a positive association [ 25 ].…”

Prevalence of Worry-Induced Sleep Disturbance and Associated Factors among a National Sample of In-School Adolescents in Lebanon

“…In terms of health risk behaviours, high sedentary behaviour, having experienced multiple serious injuries, current tobacco use and ever cannabis use increased the likelihood of having WISD. These findings concur with previous studies [ 8 , 14 , 18 , 19 ]. In a systematic review, Yang et al [ 27 ] showed that prolonged sedentary behaviour was associated with sleep disturbance.…”

“…The study showed that being female increased the likelihood of WISD, which was also found in some previous investigations (e.g., [ 19 ]). Generally, girls may be more vulnerable to WISD than boys because of different coping styles in response to stressors [ 13 , 24 ].…”

“…Socio-environmental factors associated with WISD or psychological distress, may include experience of hunger [ 14 ], low peer and low parental support [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ] and school truancy [ 15 ]. Health risk behaviours associated with WISD or psychological distress, may include substance use [ 14 , 17 , 18 ], sedentary behaviour [ 8 , 19 ], frequent fast food consumption [ 20 ], frequent soft drink intake [ 20 ], fast food intake and sedentary behaviour [ 21 ], sexual behaviour [ 14 ] and injury [ 19 ]. This investigation aimed at estimating the prevalence and correlates of WISD among adolescents in Lebanon.…”