Adherence to 24-Hour Movement Recommendations and Health Indicators in Early Adolescence: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study

Purpose: Adherence to 24-hour movement guidelines of ≥60 minutes of physical activity, ≤2 hours of screen time, and 9-11 hours of sleep has been shown to benefit cognitive, physical, and psychosocial health in children and young adolescents aged 5-13 years. However, these findings have mostly been based on cross-sectional studies or relatively small samples and the associations between adherence to guidelines and brain structure remain to be evaluated.

Methods: Data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ (ABCD) study of 10,574 early adolescents aged 9-14 years from September 2016 to January 2021 were used to examine whether adherence to 24-hour movement guidelines benefits cognition (general cognitive ability, executive function, and learning/memory assessed by the National Institutes of Health Toolbox neurocognitive battery), body mass index, psychosocial health (internalizing, externalizing, and total problems from the parent-reported Child Behavior Checklist), and magnetic resonance imaging-derived brain morphometric measures at baseline (T1), ∼2 years later (T2), and longitudinally from T1 to T2 (T2-T1). Multivariable linear mixed models were used, with adjustments for sociodemographic confounders. Time elapsed and T1 outcome measures were also controlled for in longitudinal models.

Results: Better cognitive scores, fewer behavioral problems, lower adiposity levels, and greater gray matter volumes were observed in those who met both sleep and screen time recommendations compared to those who met none. Longitudinal follow-up further supports these findings; participants who met both recommendations at T1 and T2 evidenced better outcome measures than those who met none.

Discussion: These findings support consideration of integrated rather than isolated movement recommendations across the day in early adolescence for better cognitive, physical and psychosocial health. Although the associations between physical activity and health indicators were less consistent in this study, the significant findings from sleep and screen time demonstrate the importance of considering movement recommendations in an integrated rather than isolated manner for adolescent health. It is recommended that movement behaviors be simultaneously targeted for better developmental outcomes.