Physical inactivity and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in adolescent students

Abstract

Objective

To compare habitual physical activity and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress among adolescent students of full-time and part-time public schools.

Methods

A cross-sectional analytical study with stratified proportional sampling by clusters, conducted in Goiânia, GO, in 2018. The sample included 516 adolescent students, 277 from part-time school and 239 from full-time school. To assess the level of physical activity, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire was applied. Screening for symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress was assessed by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. The chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test was used to assess the categorical variables. The univariate General Linear Model (GLM) was adopted to compare continuous variables. Homogeneity correction was performed using the Levene test. The level of significance adopted was 5%.

Results

The mean age was 15.95 ± 1.15 years old. The prevalence of adolescent part-time students who reported being independent and partially responsible for expenses was 13.4% (p <0.005). The general prevalence of physical inactivity was 93.5%. The frequency of full-time students who stated that life was meaningless was 13% (p <0.05). Students in full-time schools had a lower frequency of moderate to vigorous physical activity when compared to part-time students (4.10 ± 3.60 versus 4.80 ± 3.70 days a week (p<0.05).

Conclusion

Adolescent students in the public school system showed a high rate of physical inactivity, with a higher proportion of inactive in full-time schools. Moreover, these students experience negative aspects of anxiety, stress and depression.

Adolescence; Sedentary lifestyle; Physical activity; Depression; Anxiety; Stress