OBJECTIVES: : Depression among adolescents has been increasing over the past decade, however, the relationship between physical activity and depression hasn’t been well-studied. In this study, we assessed the association between physical activity and sedentary behavior with depressive symptoms among high school students in the US.

METHODS: Nationally representative data from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) were used. Depressive symptoms were defined as present if in the past year the respondents ever felt so sad or hopeless almost every day for ≥ two weeks in a row that they stopped doing usual activities. The main independent variables were physical activity and sedentary behaviors. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate the relationship between depressive symptoms with physical activity and sedentary behaviors while controlling for demographics and other risk behaviors. YRBS’ complex sampling design was accounted for in all analyses.

RESULTS: Among all students included in the study, 44.1% engaged in physical activity ≥ 5 days/week and 57.4% participated on ≥ 1 sports teams. Students with physical activity ≥ 5 days/week (aOR=0.81, 95% CI=0.70-0.95) or participating on ≥ 1 sports teams (aOR=0.72, 95% CI=0.63-0.82) were less likely to report depressive symptoms in the past year. Students reporting ≥ 3 hours of computer or device usage/school night (aOR=1.56, 95% CI=1.33-1.84) were more likely to report depressive symptoms.