Résumé
University students experience elevated psychological distress, and experiencing a disability may amplify that risk. While physical activity, sleep, and sedentary behaviour are linked to mental health, limited research has examined how reallocating time between these behaviours affects distress, particularly for students with disabilities. Grounded in time-use epidemiology principles, this study examined how reallocating time among daily movement behaviours relates to psychological distress and whether associations differed by disability status. Data were drawn from the Canadian Campus Wellbeing Survey (N=4472; 7% disabled; Mage(SD)=22.6(5.1)). Isotemporal substitution models estimated effects of replacing 10 minutes/day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), sedentary time, or sleep with another behaviour on psychological distress, measured using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Interaction terms tested whether effects differed by disability status. Replacing sedentary time with sleep (β=–0.15, SE=0.017, p < .001) or MVPA (β=–0.07, SE=0.025, p=.005) was associated with significantly lower distress. Replacing sleep with sedentary time (β=0.15, SE=0.017, p<.001) or MVPA (β=0.08, SE=0.030, p=.006) and replacing MVPA with sedentary time (β=0.07, SE=0.024, p=.004), were associated with increased distress. Two significant interactions showed stronger negative effects of sedentary time for students with disabilities: replacing MVPA (interaction: β=0.063, SE=0.024, p=0.008) or sleep (interaction: β=0.061, SE=0.025, p=0.014) with sedentary time were more strongly associated with distress. These results highlight students with disabilities as an at-risk group. For exercise psychology, they highlight the need for inclusive, accessible, theory-informed interventions targeting sedentary time to promote mental health equity.
