Abstract
Youth is an important stage of human psychological development, and depression has become a significant mental health issue. In this study, we investigated theassociation between physical activity (PA), family economic status, and depressive symptoms in adolescents, and demonstrated how they independently or mutually affect mental health. This study analyzed theassociation between PA, family economics, and depression among 1934 adolescents (aged 10-20) based on data from the 2022 Youth Sports and Health Program. Research has shown that increased PA and improvements in family life are not associated with a high risk of depression. The interaction between PA and family economic status suggests that young people with lower economic levels can alleviate symptoms of depression by gaining more benefits from PA. This result emphasizes the potential of PA in reducing the psychological health gap caused by socio-economic inequality. Research has shown that future public health policies should focus on PA in the mainstream of socio-economic development, especially among young people from economically disadvantaged families, and promote effective physical training and depression relief.