Physical Activity and Depressive Symptoms Among U.S. Adolescents: Does Race/Ethnicity Matter?
Creators: name: Campbell, Carey
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2005

description: PURPOSE: To investigate the association between physical activity and depressive symptoms in a community-based nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents, and whether this association differs by race/ethnicity. METHODS: Data for this study derives from the Wave I public-use dataset of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a longitudinal, nationally representative, school-based study of U.S. adolescents in grades 7 to 12 from 1994 to 1996. Adolescents listed on participating school rosters in 1994 and 1995 were eligible to participate. Participants (n=6504) completed an in-home questionnaire on health-related topics including general health, physical activity, tobacco/alcohol use, sexuality, and peer influences. Physical activity was measured by standard 7 -day recall methods, asking respondents how often they had participated in moderate to vigorous activity within the past week. Participants were categorized as reporting High or Low levels of weekly activity. An item measuring weekly physical education participation was also included. Depressive symptoms were measured using a modified form of the 20-item Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) Scale. To measure suicidal ideation and attempt, students were asked if they had ever thought about/attempted suicide over the past year. To measure racial/ethnic identity, participants were categorized as non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, or Other based on self-report. RESULTS: Among adolescent males, neither weekly moderate to vigorous activity nor PE participation was significantly associated with CES-D score (Weekly PA level: coeff=- 0.74, p=0.087; Weekly PE: coeff=0.24, p=0.245). This lack of an association did not differ by racial/ethnic group. Adolescent males who reported High weekly activity were 50% less likely to report suicidal ideation in the past year than those males reporting Low weekly PA (OR: 0.53 [95% Cl: 0.37-0.75], p<0.001). This inverse association between physical activity and suicidal ideation only persisted among non-Hispanic White males in race-stratified analysis (OR: 0.46 [95% Cl: 0.31-0.69], p<0.001). Among adolescent females, there was not an overall significant association between CES-D score and weekly activity (p=0.217), but there was for weekly PE participation (coeff: 0.52, p=0.045). In the race-stratified analysis, females classified as Other who reported High weekly activity were less likely to report depressive symptoms than those reporting Low weekly activity (p=0.005). On average, their CES-D scores were three points lower than those reporting Low weekly activity. Overall, adolescent females reporting Low weekly activity levels and PE participation were no more likely to report suicidal ideation or attempt over the past year than adolescent females reporting High weekly activity levels and PE participation. Among non-Hispanic White females, weekly PE participation was associated with greater risk of suicidal ideation, with those reporting regular weekly PE more likely to report suicidal ideation over the past year than those reporting no weekly PE (OR: 1.31 [95% Cl: 1.06-1.60], p=0.011 ). CONCLUSIONS: Through the available measures, it does not appear that PA and depressive symptoms are strongly associated among adolescents, and this association does not vary greatly by race/ethnicity. For those subgroups that demonstrated a significant association, such associations were not particularly large in magnitude, excluding that found for Other females. While policy efforts to increase physical activity among adolescents are well-founded on improvements in physical and cardiovascular health, these benefits may not extend to improvement of depressive symptoms given the results of the present study. Policy implications and directions for future research are discussed.