Lin Jingyuan, Guo Tianyou, Becker Benjamin, Yu Qian, Chen Si-Tong, Brendon Stubbs, Hossain Md Mahbub, Cunha Paolo M, Soares Fernanda Cunha, Veronese Nicola, Yu Jane Jie, Grabovac Igor, Smith Lee, Yeung Albert, Zou Liye, Li Hong
Research Centre of Brain Function and Psychological Science; Center for Language and Brain, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, People's Republic of China.
Exercise and Mental Health Laboratory, School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, People's Republic of China.
Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2020 Dec 2;13:1123-1134. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S277435. eCollection 2020.
The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and associated restrictive measures have implications for depressive symptoms (henceforth depression) of young people and risk may be associated with their reduced physical activity (PA) level. Therefore, we aimed to examine the association between depressive symptoms and PA among college students with different gender and gender role (masculinity traits and femininity traits) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cross-sectional study included 628 healthy college students from nineteen different locations. The Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scales (CES-D), the International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form (IPAQ-SF), and the 50-item Chinese Sex-Role Inventory (CSRI-50) were used to measure depressive symptoms, PA continuous (weekly metabolic equivalent minutes, MET-minutes/week) and categorical indicators (activity level category) and gender role, respectively. The statistical analyses were used in partial correlation analysis, -test, one-way ANOVA, moderation model tests, and linear regression model tests.
Total of 34.72% participants had clinically relevant depression (16, CES-D scale). Total of 58.6% participants were classified as a "low" activity level for spending less time on PA. Depression significantly negatively correlated with MET-minutes/week in moderate-intensity PA but not vigorous and walking scores. Of note, the depression-PA association was only moderated by the "low" activity level group in terms of categorical scores across gender groups. Participants with higher masculinity traits were less likely to have depression among all participants. Moreover, more recovered cases and fewer deaths could also predict the lower depression risk in the "high" activity level group.
Moderate-intensity PA is beneficial for reducing depression risk among college students at a low activity level. College students with fewer masculinity traits (regardless of gender) are highly vulnerable to depression during the outbreak of COVID-19. Effective control of the COVID-19 pandemic seems critical to alleviating the burden of mental disorders of the public including depression.
新型冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行及相关限制措施对年轻人的抑郁症状（以下简称抑郁症）有影响，风险可能与其身体活动（PA）水平降低有关。因此，我们旨在研究COVID-19大流行期间不同性别和性别角色（男性特质和女性特质）的大学生抑郁症状与PA之间的关联。
横断面研究纳入了来自19个不同地点的628名健康大学生。使用流行病学研究中心抑郁量表（CES-D）、国际体力活动问卷简表（IPAQ-SF）和50项中国性别角色量表（CSRI-50）分别测量抑郁症状、PA连续指标（每周代谢当量分钟数，MET-分钟/周）和分类指标（活动水平类别）以及性别角色。统计分析采用偏相关分析、t检验、单因素方差分析、调节模型检验和线性回归模型检验。
共有34.72%的参与者有临床相关抑郁症（CES-D量表评分为16）。共有58.6%的参与者因PA时间较少被归类为“低”活动水平。抑郁症与中等强度PA的MET-分钟/周显著负相关，但与剧烈强度和步行得分无关。值得注意的是，就性别组的分类得分而言，抑郁与PA的关联仅在“低”活动水平组中存在调节作用。在所有参与者中，具有较高男性特质的参与者患抑郁症的可能性较小。此外，更多的康复病例和更少的死亡病例也可预测“高”活动水平组中较低的抑郁风险。
中等强度PA有利于降低低活动水平大学生的抑郁风险。在COVID-19疫情爆发期间，男性特质较少的大学生（无论性别）极易患抑郁症。有效控制COVID-19大流行对于减轻包括抑郁症在内的公众精神障碍负担似乎至关重要。
