INTRODUCTION The World Health Organisation recommends that children and adolescents engage in at least 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day. Previous research has shown that physical activity is related to other constructs such as mental well-being and self-rated health. This study examined the inter-relatedness of these constructs in Northern Irish school children. METHODS This study was a secondary analysis of data gathered as part of a longitudinal study. Participants were n = 1791 adolescents in their final years of secondary (high) school (age range 15-18; female = 64.6%). Data were gathered on three occasions over a 2-year period on self-rated health, physical activity, mental well-being, heavy episodic drinking, lifetime smoking, psychological and somatic symptoms, as well as a range of socio-demographic measures. RESULTS Descriptive results showed extremely low levels of self-reported physical activity within the past week, with <6% of the sample attaining the WHO guidelines at each wave of data collection. There were significant gender differences on all variables assessed. Results further showed a small-sized relationship (statistically significant for girls only) between physical activity and mental well-being. There was also a small-sized relationship between physical activity and self-rated health. Notably, effect sizes for the relationship between self-rated health and both physical activity and mental well-being were higher. In terms of socio-demographic predictors of lower physical activity, being female, lifetime cigarette smoking, and higher somatic and psychological symptoms were all statistically significant factors. CONCLUSION Self-rated health emerged as the most important predictor of physical activity among adolescents.

中文翻译：

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身体活动、自评健康和心理健康的相互关系和人口预测因素：一项针对中学生的三波研究。

简介 世界卫生组织建议儿童和青少年每天至少进行 60 分钟的中度至剧烈运动。先前的研究表明，身体活动与其他结构有关，例如心理健康和自评健康。本研究调查了这些结构在北爱尔兰学童中的相互关联性。方法 本研究是对作为纵向研究的一部分收集的数据的二次分析。参与者是 n = 1791 名处于中学（高中）最后几年的青少年（年龄范围 15-18 岁；女性 = 64.6%）。在 2 年的时间里，我们在三个场合收集了有关自评健康、身体活动、心理健康、酗酒、终生吸烟、心理和躯体症状以及一系列社会人口统计指标的数据。结果 描述性结果显示，过去一周自我报告的身体活动水平极低，在每一轮数据收集中，只有不到 6% 的样本达到了 WHO 指南。评估的所有变量都存在显着的性别差异。结果进一步表明，身体活动与心理健康之间存在较小的关系（仅对女孩具有统计学意义）。体力活动与自评健康之间也存在较小的关系。值得注意的是，自评健康与身体活动和心理健康之间关系的效应量更高。就较低体力活动的社会人口统计学预测因素而言，女性、终生吸烟以及较高的躯体和心理症状都是具有统计学意义的因素。