Intervention effect of school sports on youth depression from the perspective of social support

Abstract Background Youth depression is growing and school physical activity may alleviate symptoms by providing social support. However, the existing studies mostly focus on physiological benefits and lack a systematic discussion on social support mechanisms. Therefore, based on the theory of social support, the study aims to test the effect of comprehensive intervention of school physical education on juvenile depression. Methods The study adopted a randomized controlled trial design, recruiting 150 adolescents who met the depression screening criteria (PHQ-9 ≥ 10 points) and were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group received a 12-week comprehensive intervention in school sports, based on social support theory, which included structured sports activities, team interaction, and psychological skills training. The control group maintained regular courses and was evaluated using PHQ-9 and SSRS scales before and after intervention, as well as during a 3-month follow-up period. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS 25.0 for t-test, repeated measures ANOVA, and regression analysis. Results The comparison results of core indexes (mean ± standard deviation) between the experimental group and the control group at different time points are shown in Table 1. As shown in Table 1, intra group comparison showed that the PHQ-9 score of the experimental group significantly decreased compared to the baseline period after intervention and follow-up (p.001), while the SSRS score significantly increased synchronously; There were no significant intra group changes in all indicators of the control group. Further comparison between groups showed that after intervention and follow-up period, the PHQ-9 scores of the experimental group were significantly lower than those of the control group (p.001), and the SSRS scores were significantly higher than those of the control group (p.001). Further multiple regression analysis showed that emotional support (β = -0.42, p.01) and instrumental support (β = -0.31, p.05) in social support were key factors in predicting the reduction of depressive symptoms. Discussion Research has confirmed that comprehensive intervention in school sports based on social support theory can effectively alleviate depression symptoms in adolescents, improve their perceived level of social support, and the intervention effect is sustainable. This model combines sports activities with team interaction, providing a feasible non-stigmatizing psychological intervention approach for campuses. In the future, it is still necessary to verify its universality in different groups and further explore its mechanism of action.