Abstract

Background

Canada recently adopted the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth (24-Hour Guidelines) for young people aged 5 to 17 years—an international first, providing integrated recommendations for physical activity, sedentary time and sleep. Since the release of the guidelines, very few studies have examined the associations of adherence to the 24-Hour Guidelines with health outcomes—and none focus on psychosocial health. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the associations of meeting the 24-Hour Guidelines and their behaviour-specific recommendations with psychosocial health among Canadian children and youth.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 4,250 children and youth aged 5 to 17 years with valid accelerometer data. The study data were collected from 2009 to 2015 with the Canadian Health Measures Survey and pooled. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was measured using accelerometers; screen time, sleep duration and measures of psychosocial health were self- or proxy-reported. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine the associations of meeting individual or different combined recommendations from the 24-Hour Guidelines with psychosocial health.

Results

There was low overall adherence to all three 24-Hour Guidelines recommendations, especially among youth (children: 13.9%, youth: 4.8%). Meeting two or more of the recommendations was associated with higher odds of positive psychosocial health among youth (odds ratio [OR] = 3.10; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.17–8.19). Sleep duration and screen time were strongly associated with social behaviour and psychosocial health among Canadian youth.

Interpretation

Adherence to the 24-Hour Guidelines was significantly associated with better psychosocial health among Canadian youth.

Keywords

motor activity, sedentary behaviour, sleep, screen time, mental health, children, youth

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.25318/82-003-x202000500002-eng

Findings

Adequate sleep duration, physical activity and low sedentary time are all independently associated with better health status among children and youth. Recently, in an international first, Canada adopted the 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth (24-Hour Guidelines), which provide integrated recommendations for physical activity, sedentary time and sleep. [Full article]

Authors

Felix Bang, Karen C. Roberts (karenc.roberts@canada.ca), and Stephanie A. Prince (stephanie.princeware@canada.ca) are with the Centre for Surveillance and Applied Research at the Public Health Agency of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario. Stephanie A. Prince is also with the Division of Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Jean-Philippe Chaput and Gary S. Goldfield are with the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Ottawa, Ontario.

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