Sports activities and mental distress in young people in deprived urban areas in South America: a cross-sectional analysis

Sofia Madero; Luis Ignacio Brusco; Francisco Diez-Canseco; Carlos Gómez-Restrepo; Natividad Olivar; Pablo Ezequiel Flores-Kanter; Sumiko Flores; Ana L. Vilela-Estrada; Ángela Flórez-Varela; M. Esteban Uribe Pinto; Diliniya Stanislaus Sureshkumar; Catherine Fung; Stefan Priebe

doi:10.1186/s13104-025-07288-y

Sports activities and mental distress in young people in deprived urban areas in South America: a cross-sectional analysis

Sofia Madero
, Luis Ignacio Brusco
, Francisco Diez-Canseco
, Carlos Gómez-Restrepo
, Natividad Olivar
, Pablo Ezequiel Flores-Kanter
, Sumiko Flores
, Ana L. Vilela-Estrada
, Ángela Flórez-Varela
, M. Esteban Uribe Pinto
, Diliniya Stanislaus Sureshkumar
, Catherine Fung
, Stefan Priebe

University of Buenos Aires
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
Hospital Universitario San Ignacio
Queen Mary University of London
Universitaet Hamburg

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: To explore the association between sport activities and depression/anxiety symptoms among young people in disadvantaged urban areas of South America. Results: Out of a total of 2375 participants, 1131 (47.1%) had engaged in sports in the previous month. Sports activities, particularly those performed with others, were associated with lower anxiety and depression. There was a trend for this association to be stronger in male than in female participants.

Original language	English
Article number	257
Journal	BMC Research Notes
Volume	18
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-025-07288-y
State	Published - Dec 2025
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Adolescents
Anxiety
Depression
Mental health
Sports activities
Young adults

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10.1186/s13104-025-07288-y

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Madero, S., Brusco, L. I., Diez-Canseco, F., Gómez-Restrepo, C., Olivar, N., Flores-Kanter, P. E., Flores, S., Vilela-Estrada, A. L., Flórez-Varela, Á., Uribe Pinto, M. E., Stanislaus Sureshkumar, D., Fung, C., & Priebe, S. (2025). Sports activities and mental distress in young people in deprived urban areas in South America: a cross-sectional analysis. BMC Research Notes, 18(1), Article 257. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-025-07288-y

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title = "Sports activities and mental distress in young people in deprived urban areas in South America: a cross-sectional analysis",

abstract = "Objective: To explore the association between sport activities and depression/anxiety symptoms among young people in disadvantaged urban areas of South America. Results: Out of a total of 2375 participants, 1131 (47.1\%) had engaged in sports in the previous month. Sports activities, particularly those performed with others, were associated with lower anxiety and depression. There was a trend for this association to be stronger in male than in female participants.",

keywords = "Adolescents, Anxiety, Depression, Mental health, Sports activities, Young adults",

author = "Sofia Madero and Brusco, \{Luis Ignacio\} and Francisco Diez-Canseco and Carlos G{\'o}mez-Restrepo and Natividad Olivar and Flores-Kanter, \{Pablo Ezequiel\} and Sumiko Flores and Vilela-Estrada, \{Ana L.\} and {\'A}ngela Fl{\'o}rez-Varela and \{Uribe Pinto\}, \{M. Esteban\} and \{Stanislaus Sureshkumar\}, Diliniya and Catherine Fung and Stefan Priebe",

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month = dec,

doi = "10.1186/s13104-025-07288-y",

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Madero, S, Brusco, LI, Diez-Canseco, F, Gómez-Restrepo, C, Olivar, N, Flores-Kanter, PE, Flores, S, Vilela-Estrada, AL, Flórez-Varela, Á, Uribe Pinto, ME, Stanislaus Sureshkumar, D, Fung, C & Priebe, S 2025, 'Sports activities and mental distress in young people in deprived urban areas in South America: a cross-sectional analysis', BMC Research Notes, vol. 18, no. 1, 257. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-025-07288-y

TY - JOUR

T1 - Sports activities and mental distress in young people in deprived urban areas in South America

T2 - a cross-sectional analysis

AU - Madero, Sofia

AU - Brusco, Luis Ignacio

AU - Diez-Canseco, Francisco

AU - Gómez-Restrepo, Carlos

AU - Olivar, Natividad

AU - Flores-Kanter, Pablo Ezequiel

AU - Flores, Sumiko

AU - Vilela-Estrada, Ana L.

AU - Flórez-Varela, Ángela

AU - Uribe Pinto, M. Esteban

AU - Stanislaus Sureshkumar, Diliniya

AU - Fung, Catherine

AU - Priebe, Stefan

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025.

PY - 2025/12

Y1 - 2025/12

N2 - Objective: To explore the association between sport activities and depression/anxiety symptoms among young people in disadvantaged urban areas of South America. Results: Out of a total of 2375 participants, 1131 (47.1%) had engaged in sports in the previous month. Sports activities, particularly those performed with others, were associated with lower anxiety and depression. There was a trend for this association to be stronger in male than in female participants.

AB - Objective: To explore the association between sport activities and depression/anxiety symptoms among young people in disadvantaged urban areas of South America. Results: Out of a total of 2375 participants, 1131 (47.1%) had engaged in sports in the previous month. Sports activities, particularly those performed with others, were associated with lower anxiety and depression. There was a trend for this association to be stronger in male than in female participants.

KW - Adolescents

KW - Anxiety

KW - Depression

KW - Mental health

KW - Sports activities

KW - Young adults

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105009877517

U2 - 10.1186/s13104-025-07288-y

DO - 10.1186/s13104-025-07288-y

M3 - Artículo

C2 - 40598281

AN - SCOPUS:105009877517

SN - 1756-0500

VL - 18

JO - BMC Research Notes

JF - BMC Research Notes

IS - 1

M1 - 257

ER -

Sports activities and mental distress in young people in deprived urban areas in South America: a cross-sectional analysis

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Keywords

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