IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i5p2207-d504698.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Physical Activity Improves Mental Health in Children and Adolescents Irrespective of the Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)—A Multi-Wave Analysis Using Data from the KiGGS Study

Author

Listed:
  • Parisa Ganjeh

    (Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany)

  • Thomas Meyer

    (Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
    German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), Partner Site Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany)

  • York Hagmayer

    (Department of Cognitive Science and Decision Psychology, Georg Elias Müller Institute of Psychology, University of Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany)

  • Ronny Kuhnert

    (Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, Robert Koch Institute, 13353 Berlin, Germany)

  • Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer

    (Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany)

  • Nicole von Steinbuechel

    (Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37073 Göttingen, Germany)

  • Aribert Rothenberger

    (Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
    These authors are joint senior authors on this work.)

  • Andreas Becker

    (Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Göttingen, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
    These authors are joint senior authors on this work.)

Abstract

Physical activity (PA) may have positive effects on mental health in children and adolescents. This post hoc study aimed to further investigate the relationship between different frequency levels of PA and general mental health as well as specific hyperactivity/inattention symptoms in children and adolescents. Methods: The analyses were based on data drawn from the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS) study, a regularly conducted large-scale, epidemiological investigation of somatic and mental health of children and adolescents in Germany. Parents were asked about their children’s attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) records and answered questionnaires concerning any mental health problem behavior of the children and adolescents using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The overall problem score as well as the hyperactivity/inattention symptoms subscale (SDQ-H/I) were entered as outcomes in a regression model controlling for parental socio-economic status and participants’ sex, age, and body mass index (BMI). Cross-sectional analyses were conducted at three time points of the KiGGS study (baseline, wave 1, and wave 2) using general linear models (GLM). This was performed for different age groups (4–5, 6–9, 10–17 years). Results: Significant negative relationships were found between PA and general mental health problems. For the relationship between PA and SDQ-H/I, different patterns emerged at the three time points. There was no interaction between PA frequency levels and diagnosis of ADHD (ADHD vs. non-ADHD controls) regarding the SDQ total score. Conclusion: This study underlines the importance of a high frequency level of PA for a good mental health status among children and adolescents, irrespective of the diagnosis of ADHD.

Suggested Citation

  • Parisa Ganjeh & Thomas Meyer & York Hagmayer & Ronny Kuhnert & Ulrike Ravens-Sieberer & Nicole von Steinbuechel & Aribert Rothenberger & Andreas Becker, 2021. "Physical Activity Improves Mental Health in Children and Adolescents Irrespective of the Diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)—A Multi-Wave Analysis Using Data from the KiGGS St," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2207-:d:504698
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2207/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2207/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Julio Gallego-Méndez & Jorge Perez-Gomez & José Ignacio Calzada-Rodríguez & Ángel Manuel Denche-Zamorano & María Mendoza-Muñoz & Jorge Carlos-Vivas & Miguel Ángel Garcia-Gordillo & Jose C. Adsuar, 2020. "Relationship between Health-Related Quality of Life and Physical Activity in Children with Hyperactivity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-16, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joanna Baran & Katarzyna Kalandyk-Osinko & Rafał Baran, 2022. "Does Prenatal Physical Activity Affect the Occurrence of Postnatal Anxiety and Depression? Longitudinal Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-12, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. José I. Calzada-Rodríguez & Ángel M. Denche-Zamorano & Jorge Pérez-Gómez & María Mendoza-Muñoz & Jorge Carlos-Vivas & Sabina Barrios-Fernandez & José Carmelo Adsuar, 2021. "Health-Related Quality of Life and Frequency of Physical Activity in Spanish Students Aged 8–14," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-12, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:5:p:2207-:d:504698. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.