Physical activity and psychopathology: are long-term developmental trajectories of physical activity in children and adolescents associated with trajectories of general mental health problems and of attention-deficit hyperactivity (ADHD) symptoms?

ABSTRACT: A medium-to-high level of physical activity (PA) may have at least a short-term positive effect on psychopathology in children and adolescents. Hence, the objective of this study was to investigate the long-term effects of PA in non-adult age groups on their general mental health problems and/or ADHD symptoms, using trajectories of concurrent development over a period of 10 years. This study employed data from the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS) collected at three time points (baseline, Wave 1, Wave 2, over 10 years) from 17,640 children and adolescents. Using parent-reported data from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), different developmental trajectories of general mental health problems (SDQ-total) and ADHD symptoms (S

SUBMITTER: Ganjeh P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11424711 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature