Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between parental mental wellbeing and adolescents’ physical activity, sedentary digital media use, and body mass index

The impact of parental mental wellbeing on adolescent physical activity, digital media use, and body mass index (BMI) remains understudied. We aimed to identify parental mental wellbeing profiles when adolescents were 11 years old and to examine whether parental mental wellbeing, both as profiles and continuous variables, is associated with adolescents’ digital media use, physical activity, and BMI at ages 11 and 14. The study included 5,839 parent–adolescent pairs in a 3-year follow-up. At baseline (mean adolescent age 11 years), parents completed the Short Form Beck Depression Inventory, the Sense of Coherence (SOC) Scale, and the RAND-36 Mental Component Summary. Adolescents reported physical activity and digital media use via questionnaire, and their height and weight were measured to calculate BMI z-scores at baseline and follow-up (mean age 14 years). Latent profile analysis identified three parental mental wellbeing profiles: balanced (82%), somewhat balanced (13%), and unbalanced (5%). Better parental mental wellbeing, analysed as a continuous latent variable rather than profiles, was associated with higher adolescent physical activity and lower digital media use at age 11. These associations were still observed at age 14, more strongly for physical activity. Among individual mental wellbeing indicators, greater parental depressive symptoms were more strongly associated with lower physical activity, while higher SOC was associated with less digital media use. We observed no associations between parental mental wellbeing and adolescent BMI. These findings highlight the association of better parental mental wellbeing with higher adolescent physical activity and lower digital media use. • Better parental mental wellbeing was associated with higher adolescent physical activity at ages 11 and 14. • Better parental mental wellbeing was associated with lower adolescent digital media use at age 11, and the association weakened but remained at age 14. • Parental mental wellbeing was not associated with adolescent BMI.