Investigating the causal pathways of physical activity on cognitive and mental health

体育活动对儿童和青少年的认知和心理健康结果有积极影响。然而，人们对这些影响在不同的发育过程中是如何不同的，以及它们是通过哪些途径和机制传递的，了解甚少。获得这方面的知识是至关重要的，以便为设计有效的干预措施提供信息，通过身体活动改善年轻人的认知和心理健康。本研究旨在探讨体育活动对儿童和青少年认知和心理健康的长期影响，揭示其影响的方向和顺序。这项研究将试图回答体育活动对心理健康的积极影响在多大程度上是通过改善认知功能来调节的，反之亦然。为了解决研究问题，本研究将采用纵向千年队列研究，包括儿童和青少年心理健康（SDQ）测量，认知和神经心理学评估，包括执行功能任务，以及身体活动的加速度计数据。本研究提供的机制线索可为后续研究的选择提供参考。如果初步研究可以回答研究问题，将在OxWell学校网络内进行一项试点研究，以进一步解决所涉及的机制。这项研究将探讨体育活动在多大程度上可以预防某些不良生活事件。另外，将在OxWell学校网络内进行一项短期的纵向观察研究。在这项研究中，从小学过渡到七年级开始，将跟踪课程中体育教育量高与低的队列。每隔3个月进行一次认知和心理健康测量，以检验影响的方向性和顺序。调节和中介模型，以及潜在的结构方程模型，将用于量化这些关系。这个哲学博士的见解可能会为为什么体育活动可以保护和改善年轻人的心理健康提供潜在的因果途径的新理解。

Physical activity has positive effects on cognitive and mental health outcomes in children and adolescents. However, it is poorly understood how these effects differ across development and through which pathways and mechanisms they are conveyed. Gaining this knowledge is crucial in order to inform the design of effective interventions that improve young people's cognition and mental health through physical activity. This research proposal aims to investigate the influence of physical activity on cognition and mental health in children and adolescents over time to reveal the direction and order of effects. The study will seek to answer to what extent the positive effects of physical activity on mental health are mediated via improved cognitive function, and vice versa. To address the research questions this study will employ the longitudinal Millennium Cohort Study that includes measures of child and adolescent mental health (SDQ), cognitive and neuropsychological assessments, including executive function tasks, and accelerometer data of physical activity. Mechanistic clues from this study can inform the choice of follow-up studies. If the initial study can answer the research questions, a pilot study within the OxWell school network will be performed to further address the mechanisms involved. This study will explore to what extent physical activity may protect against certain adverse life events. Alternatively, a short longitudinal observational study within the OxWell school network will be conducted. In this study cohorts with high versus low amount of physical education in the curriculum will be followed from the start of year 7 after having transitioned from primary schools. Cognitive and mental health measures at 3-monthly intervals will be used to test the directionality and order of effects. Moderation and mediation models, and potentially structural equation modelling, will be used to quantify the relationships. The insights of this DPhil may provide novel understanding of the underlying causal pathways to why physical activity can protect and improve young people's mental health.