Abstract
PURPOSE: To investigate the interrelationships between 24-h movement behaviors, health-related physical fitness, and inhibitory control performance in adolescents. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 216 Brazilian adolescents (aged 16.7 ± 1.2 years) from a federal public school. Movement behaviors-moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), smartphone screen time, sleep duration, and excessive daytime sleepiness-were assessed using the Global School-based Student Health Survey, digital well-being tools, and the Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale. Aerobic capacity was measured using the PACER test, muscular strength by the FitnessGram push-up test, and body composition through body mass index. Inhibitory control was assessed using the Flanker task (E-Prime v3.0). Separate network analyses were performed for congruent and incongruent reaction times (RT). RESULTS: Physically active adolescents had faster RTs than their insufficiently active peers, with physical activity negatively associated with RT in both the congruent (-0.116) and incongruent (-0.125) networks. Aerobic capacity (e.g., expected influence: 0.879-0.902) and muscular strength (expected influence: 1.360-1.384) appeared as central components in both network structures. However, no associations were found between sleep duration, screen time, or excessive daytime sleepiness and inhibitory control. CONCLUSIONS: Adherence to MVPA guidelines was directly associated with improved inhibitory control performance among adolescents. Health-related physical fitness, particularly aerobic capacity and muscular strength, was indirectly associated with inhibitory control. Other movement behaviors were not associated with cognitive performance in this sample.