Subthreshold depression (SD) affects a significant proportion of adolescent females, posing a risk of major depression in later life. This study examines the effects of open-skill exercise (OSE) and closed-skill exercise (CSE) on SD, executive function (EF), and emotional states in female adolescents. A double-blind randomized controlled trial involved 95 female adolescents (mean age = 16.73 ± 0.42 years) with SD symptoms. Participants were assigned to OSE, CSE, or control (CON) groups and underwent an 8-week exercise program. Primary outcomes were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-13) and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), with secondary outcomes including EF tasks and emotional assessments. Differences were examined using generalized linear mixed models with intention-to-treat and multiple imputation. Both OSE and CSE significantly reduced depressive symptoms, with CSE showing greater improvement. EF assessments showed enhanced cognitive flexibility and working memory in both exercise groups at 4 weeks, and superior inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility in the CSE group at 8 weeks. Emotional assessments indicated a notable reduction in negative emotions in the CSE group after 8 weeks. Both OSE and CSE reduce SD symptoms in female adolescents, with CSE providing more sustained benefits for EF and emotional states. Further research on exercise interventions for mental health is warranted.Trial registration number: ChiCTR2400081139.

Background: With the development of educational philosophy, physical exercise is considered to be an important factor in the development of individual cognitive abilities in adolescents. However, the effects of physical exercise on non-cognitive abilities in adolescents remain inadequate. Objective: This study examined the effect of physical exercise on non-cognitive ability and further examined the differences in this effect in different groups. Methods: Survey data on non-cognitive ability, physical exercise and covariates were collected in the China Education Panel Survey (2014–2015) from a nationally representative sample of adolescents (n = 7904) in the eighth (follow-up) grade. Results: The results show that, after controlling for the influence of other factors, physical exercise has a promoting effect on six non-cognitive abilities—social behavior (p < 0.001), communication ability (p < 0.01), perseverance (p < 0.05), school adaptation (p < 0.001), educational expectation (p < 0.01) and creative thinking (p < 0.01)—and there is no significant effect on emotional control (p > 0.05). Furthermore, the development of non-cognitive ability in physical exercise shows certain group differences. Conclusions: There are gender differences in the performance of non-cognitive ability. Girls perform better than boys in non-cognitive ability. Physical exercise is an important means to develop non-cognitive ability, which indicates that non-cognitive ability has plasticity in adolescence. Future intervention may improve the non-cognitive ability of Chinese adolescents by increasing physical exercise.