A Natural Experiment of Childhood Lifestyle on Emotional Distress Outcomes Using a Birth Cohort of Typically Developing Children.

Abstract

Many youngsters have an unhealthy lifestyle. This raises risks of emotional distress (i.e., depressive and anxiety symptoms). Conversely, those with emotional distress are also at risk of having an unhealthy lifestyle. We aim to examine the association between emotional distress and lifestyle in children. Data were from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development, which was collected in Quebec province, Canada. Lifestyle and emotional distress were assessed by questionnaires completed by mothers, teachers, and children at ages 8 ( N = 1451, 52% girls), 10 ( N = 1334), and 12 years ( N = 1355). Latent profile analysis was used to derive lifestyle profiles. Logistic regression and mean difference analysis were conducted to test the associations between emotional distress and lifestyle profiles. At age 10 years, four profiles were found: healthy (43 %); fair (38 %); inactive (15 %); and sedentary (4 %). Children in the sedentary lifestyle profile had significantly more depressive symptoms at age 12 years compared with the healthy lifestyle profiles (mean difference [MD] = -1.618, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -2.841 to -0.396, P = 0.009), the fair lifestyle profile (MD = -1.399, 95% CI = -2.629 to -0.170, P = 0.03), and the inactive lifestyle profile (MD = -1.609, 95% CI = -2.966 to -0.253, P = 0.02). Effect sizes were large (respectively d = 1.13, d = 0.97, and d = 1.12). Parents and schools should provide more opportunities for extracurricular physical activity from an early age. The study would have benefited from including distinct types of sport and electronic devices instead of aggregated variables to evaluate differential associations with emotional distress.