Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 17, 2025
Physical Activity Measurement in Children Accepting Table Tennis Training
Published on: July 27, 2022
Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity and Psychiatric Symptoms in Children with ADHD: Exploring the Mediating Role
Ruiyuan Tao1, Yijian Yang1, Stephen Heung-Sang Wong1
1Department of Sports Science and Physical Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, CHINA.
Objective:
This study aimed to examine whether gross motor performance mediated the association between physical activity and psychiatric symptoms in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and whether these effects would be moderated by individual characteristics.
Methods:
Seventy-six children with ADHD aged 6-12 yr were included in this cross-sectional study. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was assessed by a wrist-worn ActiGraph GT9X accelerometer for 7 consecutive days. Parents self-reported their children's psychiatric symptoms, including both internalizing and externalizing symptoms, via the Chinese version of the parent informant Child Behavior Checklist. Gross motor performance, including object control and balance, was measured by the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition. Mediation and moderation effects were performed by Hayes PROCESS macro for R.
Results:
MVPA was positively correlated with object control and negatively associated with withdrawn and anxious/depressed symptoms. Both object control and balance showed negative correlations with anxious/depressed symptoms. Object control was also negatively correlated with withdrawn symptoms and aggressive behavior. Through the bootstrapping method, the indirect effect of object control (indirect effect = -0.081, 95% confidence interval = -0.171 to -0.007) was found between MVPA and anxious/depressed symptoms. In addition, this association was more pronounced in younger children with ADHD compared with their older counterparts (index of moderated mediation = 0.055, 95% confidence interval = 0.005 to 0.150).
Conclusions:
Object control mediated the association between MVPA and anxious/depressed symptoms in children with ADHD. Future physical activity interventions are suggested to emphasize the early development of gross motor skills through moderate-to-vigorous intensity activities to help reduce internalizing symptoms in this population.
More Related Videos
10:02Event Related Potentials ERPs and other EEG Based Methods for Extracting Biomarkers of Brain Dysfunction: Examples from Pediatric Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD
Published on: March 12, 2020
13:09Using Brain Activation nir-HEG/Q-EEG and Execution Measures CPTs in a ADHD Assessment Protocol
Published on: April 1, 2018
Related Concept Videos
01:30Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Diagnostic Criteria and Symptoms
To diagnose ADHD, symptoms must manifest before age 12 and be evident across multiple settings....
01:26Modeling in Therapy
Participant Modeling
Participant modeling involves therapists demonstrating calm and effective behaviors in...
01:28Human Genetics
The complex relationship between genetics and psychology is observable through common biological components such...
01:30Oppositional Defiant Disorder
Diagnostic Criteria and...
01:19Autism Spectrum Disorder
These core symptoms manifest differently among individuals, ranging from mild to severe. The disorder's complexity extends beyond its clinical presentation, encompassing a diverse range of biological, cognitive, and sociocultural influences.
01:28Conduct Disorder