Family, school and neighborhood factors moderating the relationship between physical activity and some aspects of mental health in adolescents

The impact of physical activity on mental health is widely described in literature. Less attention is given to factors which may modify this correlation, except for gender. The aim of this study was to conduct a qualitative assessment of such papers relating to children and young people. Selected papers were evaluated with regard to additional factors related to family, school and neighborhood. Attention was drawn to the definitions of these variables, the methods of analysis, and the content of the discussion. The starting point for this study included 7 systematic reviews published in 2006–2018. A total of 161 full articles described in detail in those reviews, and representing different research patterns, were selected for qualitative analysis. They met the criteria for the type of publication, mental health outcome, the direction of association, and the age group. A supplementary section of this paper contains a review of Polish literature from the Polish Medical Bibliography, and an analysis of national studies and some more recent papers not included in the analyzed reviews. It was demonstrated that 33 papers analyzed environmental variables to a greater degree than the characteristics of the sample. Twenty-three papers containing the results of statistical analyses were considered to be of particular interest. Almost 50% of these included both the socio-economic position of the family and the characteristics of the neighborhood. However, only 1 featured stratification of the sample with regard to contextual environmental variables. The obtained results are of great practical importance. Firstly, development of the research into environmental moderators should be advocated. Secondly, the social context in which adolescents grow up should be taken into account when designing intervention programs. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2019;32(4):423–39