The declining of well-being and mental health of children and adolescents has gain attention worldwide. Results from the 2017/18 study on school children’s well-being and health habits with 45 countries participating showed that in Sweden, children at an age of 11 years indicate lower life satisfaction compared with children in other European countries, but even at 13 and 15 years of age, the satisfaction of Swedish children is below average (Inchley et al., 2020).

Well-being is multi-dimensional concept including physical, economic, social, cognitive and psychological dimensions (Pollard & Lee, 2003) and is thus an umbrella concept also embracing aspects of mental health and mental illness dimensions. The sociology- and education-like concepts and medicine-like concept have been developed within these different disciplines but share the common interest in trying to unfold the causes for the decline in children and adolescents´ well-being and mental health over the last decade. Research results on the causes of decreasing mental health among young people are diverse and the circumstances and reasons for developing mental health issues are numerous. Around the globe, children and young people experience different threats to their possibilities to prosper in life, such as financial, educational, social prerequisites.

Over the last five decades, a considerable increase in time spent on leisure activities is evident in some western countries (Aguiar & Hurst, 2007). Leisure activities seem to contribute to social, physical, emotional, and cognitive health due to those activities providing individuals with opportunities to engage in healthy relationships and safe learning environments as well as joyful activities. However, recent research, suggests that there seem to be important changes in leisure for groups of individuals with certain demographic characteristics and that these groups demand different types of leisure activities. Roy and Orazem (2021), suggest that active leisure activities (Active leisure) such as physical activation are demanded by well-educated, high-income individuals while passive leisure activities (Passive leisure) such as watching television and videogaming are demanded by individuals with less education and low income (Roy & Orazem, 2021). Other research has shown that a higher time of engaging in screen-based sedentary behaviour was associated with more inattention problems, as well as with less psychological well-being, perceived quality of life, and self-esteem (Ratelle et al., 2005; Roy & Orazem, 2021

Young peoples´ life concerns leisure-time physical activities which seems to have an inverse relation to the risk of developing mental illness (Andermo et al., 2020). Higher levels of physical activity are associated with lower risk of challenges in mental illness. Research has indicated that school-related physical activity interventions seem to reduce anxiety and worry among students and increase resilience and improved overall well-being (Andermo et al., 2020). In recent reviews, both leisure-time physical activity and school sport were shown to have an inverse association with mental health in children and adolescents; in other words, higher physical activity levels are commonly associated with lower mental health challenges (Biddle et al. 2019; Rodriguez-Ayllon et al., 2019). Focusing solely on the school environment, school-related physical activity interventions were shown to reduce anxiety, increase resilience, and improve well-being children and adolescents (Andermo et al., 2020). Ratelle et al. (2005) found that a conflict between leisure activities and schoolwork were associated with poor concentration and academic hopelessness which in turn were associated with depression and low life satisfaction and poor academic outcomes.

RQ: What are the reciprocal relations between leisure activities and mental health from 6th to 9th Grade and takng into account students´ demographic characteristics?
       How does the relations between leisure activities and metal health in 6th and 9th Grade predict Grade   Point Average (GPA) in 9th Grade?

In a large national representative longitudinal dataset, data on students´ self-reports on levels of somatic and psychosomatic illness as well as their engagement in leisure activities and background characteristics are available. The study took advantage of repeated measures of mental illness in 6th (13-year-old) and 9th (16-year-old) Grades and for leisure activities. Data from the Evaluation Through Follow-up (UGU) longitudinal database is used. The UGU database contain 10% national representative samples of students in 11 birth cohorts, born between 1948 to 2010. For all cohorts, questionnaires, cognitive tests, administrative and register information is gathered from 3rd Grade (age 10) to the end of upper secondary school (age 19). UGU data from 6th and 9th Grades for the 2004 birth cohort is used in the analyses. Two dimensions of mental illness was created from data collected in 6th and 9th Grade, out of 13 items reflecting somatic and psychosomatic illness. The somatic construct (Som) was measured by items such as: during the last six months “had stomach-ache”, “headache”, difficulties sleeping” and “bad appetite”. The psychosomatic construct (Psych) was measured by items such as: during the last six months “felt sad”, “felt moody” and “felt low”. Two dimensions reflecting leisure activities was created out of 8 items with six response categories, ranging from 0 hours to more than 41 hours per week. Two items measured active leisure activities (Active) such as “Doing sports and exercise” and “Hanging out with friends”. Three items were used to measure passive leisure activities (Passive) such as “Watching TV, films and series”, Playing video- and computer games” and “Listen to music”. Auto-regressive cross-lagged models were estimated to investigate the reciprocal relations between leisure activities and mental health from 6th to 9th Grade. Covariates in terms of student background characteristics such as cognitive ability, gender, and parent´s education level was included in the analyses. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling was conducted in Mplus version 8 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2017).

Preliminary results showed good fit for the six-factor confirmatory factor model including six factors: Passive and Active leisure (in 6th Grade) and Somatic and Psychosomatic illness (in 6th and 9th Grade). The factor loadings were all significant, ranging from .40 to .93. The covariance of the factors ranged from .0 to .8. In a first model, including the four factors Active, Passive, Somatic and Psychosomatic illness and demographic variables in 6th Grade to GPA in 9th Grade, the result showed that there were considerable negative relations between Passive leisure activities, Somatic illness and GPA, while positive relations between Active leisure activities, Psychosomatic illness and GPA in 9th Grade. Including the demographic variables changed the relations between the factors and GPA but the same pattern remained. The result from the auto-regressive cross-lagged analysis showed considerable change over time primarily for the Somatic illness factor, .75 (standardized). The cross-lagged results showed negative relation from Psychosomatic illness in 6th Grade to Somatic illness in 9th Grade (-.16). From Somatic illness in 6th Grade to Psychosomatic illness in 9th Grade, there was a positive estimate (.25). The only significant relations between leisure activities in 6th Grade and Somatic and Psychosomatic illness in 9th Grade was the relation between Active leisure activities to Psychosomatic illness (-.17). In all, the result show that having active leisure activities in 6th Grade affects GPA in 9th Grade positively while then opposite is true for Passive leisure activities. Further analyses are ongoing and the result from these will be presented further.

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