Movement and mind in youth
Movement and mind in youth
Physical activity is recognized as essential for healthy development, yet its role in youth mental health and cognition remains less clearly understood. This thesis of Lu Yang addresses this gap by examining physical activity as a multidimensional behavior, including dose-related dimensions such as intensity, frequency, duration, and volume, as well as contextual dimensions such as sport type. It further explores whether physical activity may be especially relevant for adolescents with higher genetic liability to mental health problems.
Using data from the GECKO Drenthe cohort, this thesis investigates physical activity from early to middle childhood. It brings together parent-reported outdoor play, sport engagement, and device-measured physical activity to examine whether activity behaviors continue across childhood, even as their forms change. It also examines how early-life physical activity and later sport engagement are related to executive function, a set of higher-order cognitive skills, and mental health.
Using data from TRAILS, a large cohort study of mental health across development, this thesis extends the focus to adolescence. It examines how exercise frequency, sport type, duration, and activity volume relate to symptoms of depression, anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and behavioral problems, and how these physical activity dimensions interact with genetic liability to these mental health problems.
Together, this thesis shows that the relevance of physical activity to youth mental health and cognition depends on activity type and dose, outcome domain (e.g., depression or ADHD), and individual vulnerability to mental health problems. These findings support more precise physical activity recommendations for promoting mental health and cognition in youth.