Interaction of substance use with physical activity and its effect on depressive symptoms among adolescents

ABSTRACT

Objective: The present paper examined the association of physical activity and substance use with depressive symptoms among adolescents in lower socio-economic settings in India. We hypothesized that physical activity would be positively associated with lower depression levels and that the relationship would be inverse in case of substance use.

Methods: We utilized data from the Understanding the lives of adolescents and young adults (UDAYA) survey. The depression level was assessed by combining nine questions on symptoms, having a higher internal validity (Cronbach alpha value: 0.86), and adopting a negative binomial regression model.

Results: The study demonstrated a higher mean depression score among educated, girls, and adolescents who consumed substance and were not involved in physical activity. Adolescents who are physically inactive (IRR: 1.33; CI: 1.25–1.41) and use substance (IRR- 1.26; CI: 1.11–1.43) were more likely to have depressive symptoms compared to their counterparts. However, after controlling the effect of background variables, the incidence rate ratio (IRR) decreased for physical activities (IRR: 0.88; CI: 0.81–0.94) and increased for substance use (IRR: 1.39; CI: 1.22–1.58).

Conclusion: Substance use predisposes adolescents toward depression; therefore, educating teens on the effects of substance use is important as it would control possible substance use among adolescents.

KEYWORDS:

• Depression
• adolescents
• physical activity
• substance use

Acknowledgement

We express our sincere gratitude to the Population Council, India for providing the data.

Availability of Data and Material

The use is secondary in nature and is freely available to everyone upon request at https://www.popcouncil.org/

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.