Adherence to 24-h movement guidelines and psychosocial and academic functioning in children and youth with learning disabilities

Background The 24-h movement behavior (24-HMB) guidelines for children and adolescents integrate sleep, physical activity, and screen time, and have been associated with multiple health benefits. Nonetheless, the relationships between 24-HMB guidelines and emotional well-being, social skills, and academic achievement in youth and teenagers with learning disabilities (LD) remain insufficiently explored. Methods A cross-sectional study design was employed using data from the 2022–2023 National Survey of Children’s Health (NSCH) including children and adolescents aged between 6 and 17 years with LD. To evaluate the relationships between adherence to the 24-HMB guidelines and anxiety symptoms, depressive symptoms, social functioning, and academic performance, multivariable logistic regression models were applied. Subgroup analyses were also conducted to explore potential effect modifications. Results Among 6,305 children and adolescents with LD, 35.3% reported anxiety symptoms and 15.9% reported depressive symptoms, with social challenges being common in this population. Only 5.67% of children with learning disabilities satisfied all three recommendations in the 24-HMB guidelines, while 21.48% of children did not meet any of the recommendations. Meeting all three guidelines was associated with lower odds of anxiety (OR = 0.61, 95% CI: 0.48–0.78) and depression (OR = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.31–0.50, p < 0.01). Adherence to a greater number of guidelines was progressively associated with better social functioning and superior academic performance. Conclusion Suboptimal adherence to 24-HMB guidelines persists among children with LD. Higher compliance is linked to significantly better health and developmental outcomes.