Sedentary behaviour and psychosocial health across the life course

Psychosocial health is broadly defined to include psychological and social-psychological outcomes, interlinked with socioeconomic factors. Psychosocial health has been shown to be strongly associated with self-rated health, longevity, and heart disease. This chapter will summarise and explain the literature on sedentary behavior and psychosocial health across the life course, with a focus on the psychosocial domains bullying/ victimization, self-esteem, pro-social behavior, and mental disorders (bipolar disorder, anxiety, stress). In summary, the majority of literature is in young people and has focused on concepts such as self-esteem and pro-social behavior, suggesting an inverse relationship with sedentary behavior. Limited research has focused on these concepts in adults. The existing literature should be interpreted in light of limited gold standard experimental data.