Physical activity and emotional symptoms in Otomí adolescents: a cross-sectional correlational study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59614/acief62026291Keywords:
Physical activity, anxiety, depression, stress, sedentary lifestyleAbstract
Physical activity has a significant impact on emotions. In addition, physical activity helps reduce anxiety and regulate mood. When adolescents participate in sports or recreational activities, they find a way to relieve stress and boost their self-esteem. In contrast, a sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise are often associated with an increased risk of depression and emotional instability. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the correlation between physical activity and emotional symptoms in Otomí adolescents. A quantitative, observational, analytical, cross-sectional, and correlational study was designed. Fifty-two Otomí adolescents aged 13 and 14 were assessed using the YAP-SL questionnaire to determine their physical activity levels and the DASS-21 test to determine their level of emotional symptoms. The results obtained using Spearman’s correlation coefficient indicate that there is no correlation between physical activity and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. However, significant associations were identified between the internal dimensions of each DASS-21 subscale (between depression and anxiety, rho = 0.619, p < .01; and between depression and stress, rho = 0.553, p < .01), regarding the emotions of Otomí adolescents, mild to moderate levels were observed for depression (61.5% and 26.9 %), anxiety (40.4 % and 30.8 %), and stress (78.8 % and 7.7 %). It was also found that most participants reported enjoying physical activity, which mostly took place during school hours; they reported low levels of sedentary behavior and the influence of cell phone use, and they did not consider their household chores to be physical activity. In conclusion, the findings show that effective sports recreation is key to mitigating the risk of emotional symptoms among Otomí adolescents.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Nadia Edith García Medina, Jaqueline Mendoza-Alvarado, Ángel Salvador Xeque-Morales, Karina González-Zúñiga, Obed Melquiades Rangel-Aguado, Verónica Hernández-Valle
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International Academic Journal of Physical Education, is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source is credited.
