Life events, perceived stress and depressive symptoms in a physical activity intervention with young adult women

Abstract

Objective Examine interactive effects of life events, perceived stress and depressive symptoms during a randomized controlled aerobics intervention among women (aged 18–30) in the urban U.S. Midwest, 2006–2009. Method Participants [n=372 at baseline and n=303 at follow up] completed perceived stress, depressive symptoms and life events scales at baseline and 5–6 month follow-up. Life events were correlated with perceived stress and depressive symptoms scales using Pearson correlation. Multivariate linear regression tested the relationship between the 20 most common life events with perceived stress and depressive symptoms. Regression models explored relationships between life events, perceived stress and depressive symptoms and the intervention effect. Results Higher levels of perceived stress and depressive symptoms correlated with more life events. At baseline, for every additional life event, depressive symptoms were higher; follow-up showed marginal significance with depressive symptoms, but a strong positive association with perceived stress. In the stratified model, for every life event at follow up, the perceived stress scale increased by 0.68 in the exercise group, but not in the controls. For every life event at follow-up, depressive symptoms were higher in controls, but not in the exercise group. Conclusion Perceived stress and depressive symptoms co-occurred with life events at baseline and follow-up for participants. At follow up, perceived stress increased significantly among exercisers; depressive symptoms were significantly higher among controls. Findings suggest that new participation in structured physical activity entails a change in daily life that may buffer against depressive symptoms in relation to life events but not perceived stress.

mHealth Text Messaging for Physical Activity Promotion in College Students: A Formative Participatory Approach

“…27 In reviewing physical activity promotion trials, [28][29][30][31][32] major cognitive behavioral constructs, including barrier self-efficacy, exercise benefits, motivation, social support, outcome expectancy, self-monitoring, and goal setting correlate with success in increasing physical activity. 27,33,34 However, modifying poor adherence 35,36 to treatment recommendations remains a challenge. Moreover, traditional face-to-face and telephone interventions are time and personnel intensive, thereby limiting their feasibility for large-scale delivery.…”

Differential Links Between Leisure Activities and Depressive Symptoms in Unemployed Individuals

“…Consequently, exercise is currently widely encouraged in combination with antidepressants for the treatment of depression (Strawbridge, Deleger, Roberts, & Kaplan, 2002) and successfully reduces risk of depression after a stressful life event (O'Dougherty, Hearst, Syed, Kurzer, & Schmitz, 2012) for the general nonclinical population. Interestingly, recent evidence suggests that leisure-based (i.e., nonintervention) physical activity may be more beneficial than nonleisure activity in moderating depression for both the general population (Lin, Halgin, Well, & Ockene, 2008) and depressed groups (Pickett, Yardley, & Kendrick, 2012), but physical activities motivated by other domains (work, housework) did not provide similar protection (Chen, Stevinson, Ku, Chang, & Chu, 2012; Harvey, Hotopf, Øverland, & Mykletun, 2010).…”

The Determining of Relationship Between Physical Activity and Perceived Stress Level in Security Service Employees

“…Although it varies by gender, it is stated that there is a negative correlation between PA and birth of a new baby, a death of spouse, illnesses, working full time, starting a new job etc. especially in women (O'Dougherty et al, 2012;Stults-Kolehmainen and Sinha, 2014). Yet, Brown et al (2009) state that some life events (a new relationship, retirement, changing working condition, great personal success etc.)…”

“…In the researches, it has been stated that work, long-term negative working conditions and lifestyle-related stress cause mental health problems and the most common and inevitable stress factor is "occupation" (Chopra, 2009;Lopes et al, 2010). It is stated that individuals who engage in regular physical activity could spend their lives less stressful than those who do not (Gimeno et al, 2009, Rod et al, 2009, O'Dougherty et al, 2012. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to determine PA levels of the security service employees who are at risk with regard to stress and inactivity and to examine the relationship between PA and stress.…”