The Association between Adverse Childhood Experiences, Social Support, Body Mass Index, and Physical Activity among Adolescents

Background: Association with levels of social support and physical activity, which play a role in adolescents’ future health. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the associations between ACEs, social support, Body Mass Index (BMI), and physical activity among adolescents in Samarinda, Indonesia.Method: A sample of 246 participants completed an online self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficients, and chi-square tests were used to explore associations among variables. Mediation and moderation analyses were conducted using the PROCESS macro.Result: The findings revealed that ACEs were negatively associated with perceived social support (β = -0.1949, p < 0.001) and positively associated with physical activity (β = 0.0834, p = 0.0062). Perceived social support was negatively associated with physical activity (β = -0.2002, p = 0.0004) and partially mediated the relationship between ACEs and physical activity, with a significant indirect effect (β = 0.0390, 95% CI [0.0156, 0.0675]). The moderated mediation analysis revealed that BMI did not significantly moderate the direct or indirect effects, although the indirect pathway remained significant across different levels of BMI. The study demonstrated that perceived social support partially mediated the relationship between ACEs and physical activity. This mediation pathway remained significant regardless of BMI level, while BMI did not show a moderating effect. Conclusion these findings suggest that social support partially explains how ACEs influence physical activity, regardless of BMI.