AUTHOR=Liu Yuwei , Zheng Nan , Chen Huan , Liang Guo , Li Ting , Qiu Yanping 

TITLE=Daily activity accumulation patterns and depressive symptoms among adolescents: a latent profile approach

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1683685

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1683685

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=ObjectiveThis study aims to identify and characterize daily activity accumulation patterns (bouts of physical activity and sedentary behavior) among adolescents and then to explore the associations between these groups and depressive symptoms.MethodsA total of 521 adolescents aged 13–18 years from Wuhan and Changsha, China, were included. Bouts of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SED) were measured using accelerometers. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale was used to assess participants’ depressive symptoms. Latent profile analysis was employed to identify distinct groups based on their activity patterns.ResultsThree distinct groups were identified: “Prolonged sitters” (n = 149, 28.6%), “Sitters” (n = 224, 43.0%), and “Movers” (n = 148, 28.4%). After adjusted controlling for potential confounders, compared with the prolonged sitters, “Movers” [β (95% CI) = −3.6 (−5.912, −1.388)] exhibited the lowest score of depressive symptoms, followed by the “Sitters” [β (95% CI) = −2.3 (−4.240, −0.325)].ConclusionThe synergistic effect of strategies to reduce total SED duration by limiting SED bouts to 30 min or less and increasing light physical activity (LPA) may also be effective in alleviating depressive symptoms in adolescents.