Journal of Obesity & Weight Loss Therapy
Open Access

Abstract

Sedentary behavior contributes to adverse physical health outcomes in youth. Although evidence for the relationship between sedentary behavior and mental health outcomes is emerging, little is known regarding risk of psychological distress and low selfesteem. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of sedentary behavior with psychological distress and self-esteem in a well-characterized young adult population after controlling for a wide range of potential confounders. We adopted a crosssectional study design. A sample of 352 participants, 208 (59.1%) females and 144 (40.9%) males responded to a survey. Participants were recruited from University Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia. Sedentary behavior of the participants was determined by Sedentary Behavior Questionnaire. Kessler Psychological Distress Scale and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were used to measure psychological distress and global self-esteem respectively. Analysis of sedentary behavior demonstrated that participants have high sedentary times. The highest sedentary behavior engaged by the participants was doing paperwork or computer work, followed by sitting, listening to music and sitting and talk on a phone. Participants spent least time playing musical instruments. Multi regression analysis was performed to determine the level of significance. Sedentary behavior showed a statistically significant association with psychological distress and self-esteem. Sedentary behavior can lead to mental health problems in young adults. These findings have a number of important implications for policy and practice. They highlight the need to ensure that young people have appropriate and timely access to evidence based services and interventions across the continuum. Further longitudinal or interventional research is needed to confirm findings and determine the direction of these relationships.

Biography

Nizar Abdul Majeed Kutty is Senior Lecturer in Department of Physiotherapy at University Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia. His commitment to teaching excellence earned him accolades during his tenure at UTAR. His research interest spans a variety of topics in sedentary behavior, physical activity, multi-sensory reweighting, core stabilization training and diabetic neuropathy. He also takes great interest in utility of a variety of cutting-edge technologies like motion-based video game systems for rehabilitation. He has presented his research findings at international conferences and published articles in prolific journals. He serves as an Associate Editor and Reviewer of high end academic journals from United States and as Scientific Committee Member of international conferences.