Association of physical activity and depressive symptoms with eating disorders among college students in Jinan / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To understand the relationship between physical activity, depressive symptoms and eating disorders among college students, and to provide a theoretical basis for the intervention of eating disorders among college students.@*Methods@#A questionnaire survey including International Physical Activity Questionnaire, Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Scale and Eating Attitude Test was administered among 2 712 college students from three universities.@*Results@#Among the college students surveyed, 1 750(64.5%) did not meet the recommendations for physical activity, 962(35.5%) met the recommendation for physical activity; 488(18.0%) reported depressive symptoms, 452(16.7%) reported symptoms of eating disorders. There was a statistically significant difference in the incidence of eating disorders by genders, self-assessed learning pressure, physical activity and depressive symptoms(χ2=63.65, 23.17, 34.24, 70.66, P<0.05). After adjusting for demographic variables, the results of multiple Logistic regression analysis showed that physical activity and depressive symptoms were positively correlated with eating disorders(OR=1.59, 2.58, P<0.01). In the depression group, lower level of physical activity, was associated with higher rate of eating disorders.@*Conclusion@#Physical activity and depressive symptoms of college students were related to eating disorders. It is suggest that eating disorders might be alleviated by actively improving depressive symptoms and increasing physical activity.