Physical activity mitigates the link between adverse childhood experiences and depression among U.S. adults

• Published in: PloS one 2022-10, Vol.17 (10), p.e0275185
• Main Authors: Michael F Royer, Christopher Wharton
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0275185

BackgroundAdverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) include potentially traumatic exposures to neglect, abuse, and household problems involving substance abuse, mental illness, divorce, incarceration, and death. Past study findings suggest ACEs contribute to depression, while physical activity alleviates depression. Little is known about the link between ACEs and physical activity as it relates to depression among U.S. adults. This research had a primary objective of determining the role of physical activity within the link between ACEs and depression. The significance of this study involves examining physical activity as a form of behavioral medicine.MethodsData from the 2020 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System were fit to Pearson chi-square and multivariable logistic regression models to examine the links between ACEs and depression, ACEs and physical activity, and physical activity and depression among U.S. adults ages 18-and-older (n = 117,204) from 21 states and the District of Columbia, while also determining whether physical activity attenuates the association between ACEs and depression.ResultsFindings from chi-square analyses indicated that ACEs are related to physical activity (χ2 = 19.4, df = 1; p