AUTHOR=Meyer Jacob D. , O'Connor John , McDowell Cillian P. , Lansing Jeni E. , Brower Cassandra S. , Herring Matthew P. TITLE=High Sitting Time Is a Behavioral Risk Factor for Blunted Improvement in Depression Across 8 Weeks of the COVID-19 Pandemic in April–May 2020 JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry VOLUME=12 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.741433 DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2021.741433 ISSN=1664-0640 ABSTRACT=
The COVID-19 pandemic has elicited increased sedentary behaviors, decreased moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and worsened mental health, yet the longitudinal impact of these changes and their inter-relations remains unknown. Our purpose was to examine associations between changes in self-reported activity behaviors and mental health over an 8-week period following the COVID-19 outbreak. Participants from all 50 states and the District of Colombia were recruited through convenience and snowball sampling at baseline April 3–10, 2020. Prospective data from 2,327 US adults with ≥2 responses (63.8% female; 74.3% response rate) were collected weekly via online survey for eight consecutive weeks (April 3–June 3, 2020). Primary exposures were self-reported time spent sitting, viewing screens and in MVPA, with primary outcomes being depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and positive mental health (PMH). A significant sitting-by-time interaction (