Table 1 Association between physical exercise and psychological distress (HSCL-25) in male and female university and college students in the SHoT study, Norway, 2018
From: Physical exercise, mental health problems, and suicide attempts in university students
|  | Psychological distress (HSCL average score > 1.75) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Â | Â | Unadjusted model | Adjusted modela | |||||
n | % | OR | 95%CI- | 95%CI+ | OR | 95%CI- | 95%CI+ | |
Women | ||||||||
Physical exercise frequency | ||||||||
Never | 864 | 66.6% | 2.96 | 2.61 | 3.35 | 2.63 | 2.29 | 3.03 |
Less than once a week | 2438 | 60.1% | 2.24 | 2.07 | 2.42 | 2.04 | 1.88 | 2.23 |
Once a week | 3012 | 53.0% | 1.67 | 1.56 | 1.79 | 1.64 | 1.52 | 1.77 |
2–3 times per week | 7022 | 44.9% | 1.21 | 1.14 | 1.28 | 1.18 | 1.11 | 1.26 |
Almost every day | 3077 | 40.3% | 1.00 | – | – | 1.00 | – | – |
Physical exercise intensity | ||||||||
I take it easy without breaking into a sweat or losing my breath | 3539 | 56.8% | 1.46 | 1.33 | 1.60 | 1.57 | 1.42 | 1.73 |
I push myself so hard that I lose my breath and break into a sweat | 10,608 | 44.5% | 0.89 | 0.82 | 0.96 | 0.93 | 0.85 | 1.01 |
I push myself to near-exhaustion | 1332 | 47.4% | 1.00 | – | – | 1.00 | – | – |
Physical exercise duration | ||||||||
Less than 15 min | 324 | 61.7% | 1.96 | 1.64 | 2.35 | 2.07 | 1.69 | 2.53 |
15–29 min | 1875 | 56.8% | 1.60 | 1.48 | 1.73 | 1.71 | 1.56 | 1.86 |
30 min to 1 h | 8634 | 46.0% | 1.04 | 0.99 | 1.09 | 1.10 | 1.04 | 1.16 |
More than 1 h | 4657 | 45.1% | 1.00 | – | – | 1.00 | – | – |
Men | ||||||||
Physical exercise frequency | ||||||||
Never | 404 | 45.8% | 3.53 | 3.03 | 4.11 | 3.12 | 2.64 | 3.69 |
Less than once a week | 811 | 38.5% | 2.62 | 2.33 | 2.95 | 2.45 | 2.15 | 2.78 |
Once a week | 615 | 28.4% | 1.66 | 1.47 | 1.87 | 1.64 | 1.44 | 1.87 |
2–3 times per week | 1444 | 23.9% | 1.31 | 1.19 | 1.45 | 1.30 | 1.17 | 1.44 |
Almost every day | 784 | 19.3% | 1.00 | – | – | 1.00 | – | – |
Physical exercise intensity | ||||||||
I take it easy without breaking into a sweat or losing my breath | 730 | 35.0% | 1.63 | 1.43 | 1.85 | 1.70 | 1.48 | 1.96 |
I push myself so hard that I lose my breath and break into a sweat | 2309 | 23.5% | 0.93 | 0.84 | 1.03 | 0.99 | 0.89 | 1.11 |
I push myself to near-exhaustion | 603 | 24.8% | 1.00 | – | – | 1.00 | – | – |
Physical exercise duration | ||||||||
Less than 15 min | 118 | 41.4% | 2.53 | 1.98 | 3.22 | 2.46 | 1.88 | 3.23 |
15–29 min | 406 | 32.3% | 1.70 | 1.49 | 1.94 | 1.85 | 1.60 | 2.13 |
30 min to 1 h | 1599 | 27.2% | 1.34 | 1.23 | 1.45 | 1.35 | 1.23 | 1.47 |
More than 1 h | 1513 | 21.9% | 1.00 | – | – | 1.00 | – | – |