Associations of Sport Participation with Depression and Anxiety among Chinese Minority Adolescents

摘要

This study aimed to explore associations of sport participation with anxiety and depressive symptoms among Chi-nese minority adolescents.A cross-sectional study was conducted among Chinese adolescents in Tibet.A conve-nience sample method was used to select participants.Finally,1452 students completed the survey and 1421(52.10%girls,Grades 4–9,13.46±1.41 years old)adolescents met the inclusion criteria of analysis.Sociodemo-graphic variables,sport participation,depression and anxiety were evaluated by self-reported questionnaires.Among 1421 participants,80%of adolescents lived in rural area and more than fourfifths of participants had siblings.The parent’s education level of participants was mostly middle school and below.The prevalence of par-ticipating in sport more than 3 times per week was only 7%.More than one-third of adolescents reported they never engaged in sport and 36.5%of adolescents took part in sport 1–3 times per month.In comparison with participants who never engaging in sport participation,those who engaging in one to three time/month(OR=0.71%,95%CI:0.54–0.93)and more than 3 times/week(OR=0.50%,95%CI:0.32–0.79)were less likely to report severe depression symptoms.Compared with participants who never had sport participation,only those counterparts who engaged in sport more than 3 times/week had lower odds for severe anxiety(OR=0.46%,95%CI:0.29–0.73).These results indicated that engaging in sport participation was negatively associated with depres-sion and anxiety.There is an urgent need to improve the level of sport participation for Chinese minority ado-lescents,and to explore the mechanism of exercise under hypoxia on mental health.