Physical activity, screen time and sleep duration: Combined associations with psychosocial health among Canadian children and youth

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Canada recently adopted the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth (24-Hour Guidelines) for young people aged 5 to 17 years-an international first, providing integrated recommendations for physical activity, sedentary time and sleep. Since the release of the guidelines, very few studies have examined the associations of adherence to the 24-Hour Guidelines with health outcomes-and none focus on psychosocial health. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the associations of meeting the 24-Hour Guidelines and their behaviour-specific recommendations with psychosocial health among Canadian children and youth. DATA AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 4,250 children and youth aged 5 to 17 years with valid accelerometer data. The study data were collected from 2009 to 2015 with the Canadian Health Measures Survey and pooled. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was measured using accelerometers;screen time, sleep duration and measures of psychosocial health were self- or proxy-reported. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the associations of meeting individual or different combined recommendations from the 24-Hour Guidelines with psychosocial health. RESULTS: There was low overall adherence to all three 24-Hour Guidelines recommendations, especially among youth (children 13.9%, youth 4.8%). Meeting two or more of the recommendations was associated with higher odds of positive psychosocial health among youth (odds ratio [OR] = 3.10;95% confidence interval [CI] 1.17-8.19). Sleep duration and screen time were strongly associated with social behaviour and psychosocial health among Canadian youth. DISCUSSION: Adherence to the 24-Hour Guidelines was significantly associated with better psychosocial health among Canadian youth.