Active Families a Recipe for Teen Mental Wellness: Study

People hike on a trail in Los Angeles at dusk on May 7, 2020. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Exercising as a family has more than just physical benefits, it has psychological benefits too, especially for teens, according to a new study.

Adolescents who engage in regular family exercise often experience improved overall mental well-being, which includes lower levels of anxiety and depression, as well as increased self-esteem and decreased stress levels, the research from Statistics Canada suggests.

The teen years are an important period for the development of physical and mental well-being, researchers from Health Reports, the health analysis division of StatCan, found. And parents continue to be the best role models for healthy lifestyle behaviours, the study’s authors say.

“A positive association was observed between the reported physical activity of mothers and the physical activity levels of adolescents,” the study says. “Similarly, children and adolescents have been shown to engage in higher levels of screen-based sedentary behaviours when their parents do so as well.”

The problem, the study said, is that most teens are not meeting the minimum activity levels to stay healthy.

Teens Not Getting Enough Exercise

The World Health Organization recommends children between the ages of five and 17 participate in an average of at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity daily.

Only 35.6 percent of Canadian children and youth were meeting that benchmark in 2019, according to a global survey cited by StatCan.

The Canadian 24-hour Movement Guidelines recommend adolescents limit their recreational screen time to a daily maximum of two hours, the report noted. Only 31 percent of youth met the recreational screen time recommendation in 2018 and 2019, the report said.

The combination of low physical activity levels with increased recreational screen time has led to an increase in mental health issues among youth.

The prevalence of diagnosed mood disorders, including depression, among Canadian youth rose from 4.3 percent to 7.8 percent between 2011 and 2018, while anxiety disorders increased from 6 percent to 12.9 percent, the report said.

“These conditions can adversely influence adolescents’ academic performance, lead to social isolation and loneliness, and in severe cases, depression may result in suicide,” StatCan said.

Boys More Active, Less Stressed Than Girls

A 2019 StatCan survey of 11,077 adolescents aged 12 to 17 found that only 11.4 percent of respondents were engaging in 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activities every day.

Boys were more likely than girls to be active. Thirteen percent of boys said they met the 60-minute requirement while only 9.5 percent of girls did, the 2019 Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth found.

Boys also spend more time on screens than their female peers, the survey found. A total of 52.5 percent of boys were spending two hours or less on a screen per day compared to 60.3 percent of girls, yet boys were far more likely to report good mental health.

Nearly 74 percent of boys had “high perceived mental health” while only 59 percent of girls did. Boys were also much less likely to suffer from anxiety with 75.5 percent reporting “low” levels of anxiety compared to 62.7 percent of girls.

They were also less likely to be stressed out than their female counterparts with nearly 86 percent reporting low levels of stress in comparison to 72.6 percent for girls.

The Role of Families

Cultivating good habits during adolescence can lead to good health later in life, StatCan said, noting that the likelihood of children adopting healthy lifestyle choices increases significantly when parents model healthy lifestyle behaviours.

More specific questioning found that teens who engage in daily physical activities with their families were more likely to have beneficial physical activity levels, reduced recreational screen time, and better mental health.

The strongest links found for the daily practice of family physical activity, in contrast to not participating at all, were increased life satisfaction and a heightened perception of mental well-being, the study found. Daily family physical activity was the category most strongly associated with positive behaviours and mental health.

A key difference was noted between boys and girls regarding anxiety and depressive symptoms. Regular family physical activity was associated with diminished anxiety and depressive symptoms in girls, a pattern that was not observed in boys.

“By actively participating in physical activities with their children, parents help motivate their children to engage in physical activities and provide a direct form of parental modelling,” the study said, noting that kids from active families are less likely to engage in excessive sedentary activities like watching TV or playing video games.

“These findings provide support for the importance of promoting family physical activity during adolescence.”