AUTHOR=Santos João , Ihle Andreas , Peralta Miguel , Domingos Christophe , Gouveia Élvio R. , Ferrari Gerson , Werneck André , Rodrigues Filipe , Marques Adilson 

TITLE=Associations of Physical Activity and Television Viewing With Depressive Symptoms of the European Adults

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.799870

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2021.799870

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Background: While mentally passive sedentary behaviour such as television viewing (TV) is often related with depressive symptoms, some research shows that physical activity (PA) may attenuate this association. Thus, this study aimed to examine the associations between TV, PA, and depressive symptoms, considering sociodemographic covariates.
Methods: A sample of 29285 adults (13943 men; 15342 women) with a mean age of 50.9 ±17.4 years (50.6 ± 17.3 men; 51.1 ± 17.5 women) from the European Social Survey round 7 agreed to be respondents for this study. Data for sociodemographic variables, TV watching, PA, and depressive symptoms were self-reported. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D8). Different statistical procedures were conducted to provide evidence for the association between study variables. ANCOVA was used to analyse the association between TV watching and depressive symptoms. Linear regression analysis was conducted to analyse the association between PA and depressive symptoms. General Linear Model was performed to analyse the association of TV watching and on depressive symptoms, controlling for PA.
Results: European adults who responded watching more than 2 hours per day showed higher scores for depressive symptoms. Higher participation in PA was negatively and significantly associated with depressive symptoms in men (β = -0.15, 95% CI: -0.18, -0.13), and women (β = -0.23, 95% CI: -0.26, -0.21). Men spending 1-2 hours/day TV watching and engaging in PA ≥5 days/week presented the lowest scores on depressive symptoms. The lowest scores on depressive symptoms was observed in women engaging 2-4 days/week in PA and spending <1 hour/day in TV watching. 
Conclusions: More time spent in TV watching is related with increased scores on depressive symptoms. However, regular PA participation can weaken this association.