Physical activity and two-year change in adolescent well-being in nine countries.

The benefits of physical activity (PA) for well-being are well known; however, studies examining longitudinal effects across diverse international samples in late adolescence are limited. This study advances prior work by combining a partial longitudinal design with a multinational sample to assess the predictive effect of PA on biennial change in older adolescents' well-being, while testing for sex differences. The sample included 903 adolescents (50.4% female) from nine countries, who completed The European Health and Behavior Survey at age 16 and the EPOCH Measure of Adolescent Well-Being at ages 16 and 18. Multilevel modeling estimated the average impact of PA on change in well-being, controlling for baseline well-being. To further interrogate the findings, an additional analysis tested the effect using relative difference scores of well-being to provide a direct measure of simple change. Meta-analytic techniques then captured the degree of cross-country consistency in the estimated effect. Results indicated that more PA at age 16 significantly predicted greater EPOCH well-being at age 18, controlling for prior well-being at age 16, and that adolescent sex did not moderate this effect. The relative difference score analysis confirmed these results. The meta-analysis revealed no significant heterogeneity in the predictive effect across countries. Findings extend previous research by demonstrating the cross-cultural consistency of PA benefits during a critical developmental transition period. They suggest that PA is a modifiable behavior that can be utilized globally to enhance adolescent well-being, though individual differences and context-specific factors should be considered in public health policies and interventions.

Duke Scholars

Author Jennifer Lansford Sanford School of Public Policy

Author Kenneth A. Dodge Sanford School of Public Policy

Author Ann Skinner