Psychosocial Mechanism of Adolescents’ Depression: A Dose-Response Relation with Physical Activity

Abstract

Depression has become the most prevalent mental health problem in developing countries, and especially among adolescents. Lubans and his colleagues proposed a psychosocial mechanism to understand the trajectory of mental health (i.e., depression). Thus, this study aimed (1) to examine the relations between different doses of physical activity (PA), light PA (LPA), moderate PA (MPA), and vigorous PA (VPA), academic self-efficacy, and depression among adolescents, and (2) to investigate the direct and indirect relations of various doses of PA to depression through academic self-efficacy among middle school adolescents. Participants were 428 (235 boys, Mean age = 13.7) adolescents recruited from two middle schools in China. They completed previously validated questionnaires to measure different intensity levels of PA (LPA, MPA, and VPA), academic self-efficacy, and depression. There were significant associations of academic self-efficacy with three different doses of PA (p < 0.01). Both LPA and MPA were negatively associated with depression but not VPA. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed a well-fit model suggesting the psychosocial pathway from different doses of PA to depression through academic self-efficacy. Findings of this study indicated that academic self-efficacy regulates adolescents’ depression. Tailoring different intensities of PA benefits adolescents’ academic self-efficacy by framing the positive and supportive environment in schools, which can potentially reduce the prevalence of depression during adolescence.

Perceived Academic Self-Efficacy among Romanian Upper Secondary Education Students

“…Those with poor confidence in their capabilities consider difficult tasks as threats, have weak ability to cope with pressure, become stressed or depressed, and display higher probability to give up [ 10 ]. This relation has also been confirmed in the case of adolescents [ 11 , 12 ]. Given these arguments, some scholars consider the perceived self-efficacy as a cognitive precursor of anxiety and depression [ 13 ] as those who do not believe that they are capable to cope with difficult tasks and challenges feel higher levels of anxiety [ 3 ].…”

Association between Lifestyle Behaviours and Mental Health of Adolescents: Evidence from the Canadian HBSC Surveys, 2002–2014

“…Our study also showed that an additional 60 min/d of PA was associated with a lower risk of psychosomatic complaints, which is in line with earlier research [ 11 , 19 , 20 , 21 ]. Specifically, our study showed that meeting the daily PA recommendations (≥60 min/d) can offer protective effects against psychosomatic complaints for as much as 54% in boys and 41% in girls.…”

Adolescents’ Physical Activity and Depressive Symptoms: A Psychosocial Mechanism

“…Furthermore, adolescence represents a per of rapid development and significantly decreased PA participation in this age group w noticed [34][35][36][37]. Increasing numbers of experimental studies also support that increa PA participation may result in a small but positive effect on depression among yo [25,38,39]. Hughes and colleagues [40], for example, found that depressed adolesce (12-18 years) demonstrated a rapid reduction of depression after the 6-8 weeks of intervention, but no significant differences were observed after a 12-week interventi To date, the underlying mechanism of the positive effect of PA on depression has not b investigated.…”