Relationship between upward social comparison and adolescent depression: moderating roles of football participation

Adolescent depression is an important global public health concern. Although sport participation is generally associated with better mental health among adolescents, it remains unclear whether it moderates the association between upward social comparison and depressive symptoms and whether this effect differs across sport types. To address this gap, this study aimed to examine whether sport participation moderates the association and whether the effect differs between football participants and participants in individual sports. A total of 2,451 adolescents were recruited from 162 schools across 13 provinces in China; after excluding 16 participants, 2,435 were included in the final analyses (age, M = 12.36, SD = 3.42). Participants completed the Upward Social Comparison Scale, the Sports Participation Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Using Hayes’ PROCESS macro (Models 1 and 3), this study assessed moderation while controlling for gender and school level. Upward social comparison was positively associated with depression (b = 0.079, p < 0.001), while sport participation was negatively associated with depression (b = −0.155, p < 0.001). Their interaction was significant (b = −0.055, p = 0.005), indicating that higher sport participation was associated with a weaker positive association between upward social comparison and depression. A three-way interaction was also significant (b = 0.163, p = 0.002), indicating that the moderation pattern differed by sport type. Among football participants, the positive association between upward social comparison and depression was weaker at higher levels of sport participation but remained statistically significant, whereas no significant association was observed at either level of sport participation among participants in individual sports. In conclusion, higher levels of sport participation were associated with a weaker positive association between upward social comparison and adolescent depression, and this moderation pattern differed by sport type. These findings may inform public health strategies that consider football-based activities as a promising context for adolescent mental health promotion.