How Does Physical Activity Affect the Mental Health of Adults with Intellectual Disability? A Cross-Sectional Study Analyzing the Complex Interplay Between Variables
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Perceived Anxiety and Depression
2.2. Physical Activity Levels
2.3. Statistical Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Participant Characteristics
3.2. Relationship Between PA and Mental Health
3.3. Gender Differences in PA, Anxiety, and Depression
4. Discussion
4.1. Gender Disparities and Mental Health
4.2. PA and Mental Health Associations
4.3. Limitations and Future Directions
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Gender | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Variables | Overall, N = 99 | Female, N = 34 | Male, N = 65 | Adjusted p-Value |
Age | 33 (12) | 37 (13) | 31 (12) | 0.079 |
Height (cm) | 161 (12) | 152 (7) | 165 (12) | <0.001 |
Weight (kg) | 64 (14) | 57 (12) | 68 (13) | 0.004 |
BMI (kg/m2) | 24.7 (3.8) | 24.7 (4.8) | 24.7 (3.3) | 0.99 |
Type of disability | ||||
Free Trisomy 21 | 58/78 (74%) | 14/23 (61%) | 44/55 (80%) | |
Mosaic Trisomy 21 | 9/78 (12%) | 4/23 (17%) | 5/55 (9.1%) | |
Oligophrenia | 6/78 (7.7%) | 3/23 (13%) | 3/55 (5.5%) | |
Other ID | 5/78 (6.4%) | 2/23 (8.7%) | 3/55 (5.5%) | |
Unknown | 21 | 11 | 10 | |
Intellectual Disability | ||||
Mild | 29/89 (33%) | 12/32 (38%) | 17/57 (30%) | |
Moderate | 53/89 (60%) | 17/32 (53%) | 36/57 (63%) | |
Severe | 7/89 (7.9%) | 3/32 (9.4%) | 4/57 (7.0%) | |
Unknown | 10 | 2 | 8 | |
Zung Anxiety Score | 35 (7) | 38 (9) | 33 (6) | 0.041 |
Zung Depression Score | 36 (8) | 39 (9) | 35 (6) | 0.12 |
Physical Activity (MET/min-week) | 1374 (1114) | 1407 (1173) | 1357 (1090) | 0.97 |
Participation in Team Sports | 47/99 (44%) | 6/33 (35%) | 41/65 (63%) | 0.003 |
Participation in Individual Sports | 50/99 (50%) | 16/33 (48%) | 34/65 (52%) | 0.068 |
Zung Depression Score | Zung Anxiety Score | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Predictors | Estimates | CI | p | Estimates | CI | p |
Intercept | 45.61 | 38.47–52.75 | <0.001 | 43.05 | 35.68–50.42 | <0.001 |
Physical activity | −0.10 | −0.16–−0.04 | 0.001 | −0.03 | −0.09–0.03 | 0.387 |
Age | 0.06 | −0.05–0.18 | 0.291 | 0.03 | −0.09–0.15 | 0.580 |
Gender male | −3.57 | −6.41–−0.72 | 0.015 | −4.48 | −7.41–−1.54 | 0.003 |
ID level | −3.08 | −5.33–−0.82 | 0.008 | −3.23 | −5.56–−0.89 | 0.007 |
R2/R2 adjusted | 0.261/0.230 | 0.182/0.147 |
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Piva, T.; Raisi, A.; Zerbini, V.; Masotti, S.; Menegatti, E.; Grande, A.; Grazzi, G.; Mazzoni, G.; Visintin, E.P.; Murri, M.B.; et al. How Does Physical Activity Affect the Mental Health of Adults with Intellectual Disability? A Cross-Sectional Study Analyzing the Complex Interplay Between Variables. J. Funct. Morphol. Kinesiol. 2025, 10, 285. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk10030285
Piva T, Raisi A, Zerbini V, Masotti S, Menegatti E, Grande A, Grazzi G, Mazzoni G, Visintin EP, Murri MB, et al. How Does Physical Activity Affect the Mental Health of Adults with Intellectual Disability? A Cross-Sectional Study Analyzing the Complex Interplay Between Variables. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology. 2025; 10(3):285. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk10030285
Chicago/Turabian StylePiva, Tommaso, Andrea Raisi, Valentina Zerbini, Sabrina Masotti, Erica Menegatti, Alessandro Grande, Giovanni Grazzi, Gianni Mazzoni, Emilio Paolo Visintin, Martino Belvederi Murri, and et al. 2025. "How Does Physical Activity Affect the Mental Health of Adults with Intellectual Disability? A Cross-Sectional Study Analyzing the Complex Interplay Between Variables" Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology 10, no. 3: 285. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk10030285
APA StylePiva, T., Raisi, A., Zerbini, V., Masotti, S., Menegatti, E., Grande, A., Grazzi, G., Mazzoni, G., Visintin, E. P., Murri, M. B., & Mandini, S. (2025). How Does Physical Activity Affect the Mental Health of Adults with Intellectual Disability? A Cross-Sectional Study Analyzing the Complex Interplay Between Variables. Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology, 10(3), 285. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfmk10030285