Associations Of Meeting 24-hour Movement Guidelines On Adolescent Health: KYRBS 2020 - 2022

PURPOSE: Embracing a healthy lifestyle, which encompasses regular physical activity (PA), minimized sedentary behavior, and adequate sleep, is an economical strategy for enhancing mental health and alleviating the burden of associated diseases. This study examined how closely following the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines correlates with mental health outcomes among a nationally representative sample of South Korean adolescents. METHODS: Data from the 16th to 18th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Surveys (2020-2022) were analyzed for this study. Adolescents aged 12-17 years (n = 1,947,988) were grouped based on their adherence to individual and combined guidelines, encompassing none, PA, screen time (ST), sleep (SP), two guideline combinations, and all three. The mental health outcomes measured were the presence of depression and anxiety. Logistic regression analyses, adjusted for age, academic performance, and family economic status, and body mass index, were performed by gender in SPSS. Results are expressed in weighted odds ratio (OR) and confidence intervals (CI). RESULTS: In total, 45.3% of adolescents reported meeting at least one guideline (boy: 44.5%, girl: 46.25), while only 0.8% of adolescents met all three guidelines (boy: 1.2%, girl: 0.3%). For depression, lower odds were associated only with ST + SL (boys: OR = 0.80 [0.74-0.87], girls: OR = 0.70 [0.65-0.75]) and SL (boys: OR = 0.77 [0.73-0.83], girls: OR = 0.76 [0.72-0.81]). Furthermore, lower odds of anxiety were significantly associated with ST + SL (boys: OR = 0.57 [0.50-0.65], girls: OR = 0.60 [0.54-0.67]), ST (boys: OR = 0.91 [0.85-0.98], girls: OR = 0.94 [0.89-0.99]), and SL (boys: OR = 0.71 [0.65-0.78], girls: OR = 0.69 [0.63-0.76]) for both genders. Boys had lower odds of anxiety observed in PA + SL (OR = 0.59 [0.45-0.78]) and when meeting all guidelines (OR = 0.48 [0.34-0.68]). CONCLUSIONS: The study underscores that adherence to ST and SL guidelines acts as a safeguard against depression and anxiety. These findings offer crucial insights for health professionals treating adolescents with mental health issues and aid in the development of targeted interventions.