ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Adolescent and Young Adult Psychiatry
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1631978
Impact of Physical Activity on Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety in Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Provisionally accepted
Hai-Ying Yang1*
Li-Hong Sun2- 1School of Physical Education, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China
- 2School of Physical Education, Hubei Second Normal University, Wuhan, China
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Background: Adolescents faced increased psychological distress during the COVID-19 pandemic. While prior research suggests physical activity (PA) may mitigate depression and anxiety, findings have been inconsistent and rarely focus on adolescents during prolonged lockdowns. This study addresses this gap by evaluating the association between daily PA duration and mental health outcomes among Chinese adolescents during the pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted from June 1-30, 2020, among 1,142 adolescents aged 11-18 years in Pidu District, Chengdu City, China. Depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7), respectively.PA was self-reported and categorized as <30, 30-60, and >60 minutes/day. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios (ORs) for depression (CES-DC >15) and anxiety (GAD-7 ≥5), using ≥30 min/day as the reference.Results: Depressive symptoms were reported by 40.7% of participants and anxiety symptoms by 24.1%. Compared to adolescents with ≥30 min/day of PA, those with <30 min/day had significantly higher odds of depression (OR = 1.722, 95% CI: 1.342-2.226) and anxiety (OR = 1.653, 95% CI: 1.299-2.521). Additional independent predictors included female sex, sleep duration <6 hours, and self-reported decline in learning efficiency.Insufficient PA (<30 min/day) was independently associated with elevated depression and anxiety symptoms in adolescents during the pandemic. These findings support promoting ≥30 minutes of daily PA as a scalable, non-pharmacological strategy to protect adolescent mental health during public health emergencies.
Keywords: adolescents, physical activity, Depression, Anxiety, COVID-19, Mental Health, Risk factors
Received: 20 May 2025; Accepted: 05 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang and Sun. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hai-Ying Yang, School of Physical Education, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China
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