Examining changes of adolescent physical habitus-a retrospective study of physical capital networks.

Introduction: In recent years, massive studies have examined sport from the standpoint of cultural capital. However, these studies have not examined cultural capital in relation to habitus within specific fields. Methods: This article utilized a multivariate latent growth curve model to analyze changes of participants' physical habitus. Hypotheses concerning the form of growth in physical habitus, individual perceived capital influence differences in the common trajectory over time, and covariates influencing the growth of PH were tested. Results: Significant linear increases existed for perceived influence from family and school, while significant linear decreases existed for perceived influence from community. The second-order alternative format of the latent growth curve model indicated that associations among individual perceived influence differences could be adequately explained by a higher order physical habitus construct. Gender, personal health condition, family socio-economic status, and weekly time spent on physical activities significantly predicted initial levels of physical habitus, whereas family social economic status significantly predicted the rate of change in physical habitus simultaneously. Discussion: These findings not only support the participation in sport is constructed socially but also that individual efforts and contextual influences contribute to physical habitus. Furthermore, three types of perceived influences intertwined so much in simultaneity, instead of contributing to physical habitus across time.

Do the various leisure forms have equal effects on mental health? A longitudinal analysis of self-selected leisure activities.

The deteriorating trends of unbalanced income, progressive age-related health problems, and loss of traditional ties necessitate ever-flexible interventions that are helpful to overcome a decline in Chinese adults' mental health. This study aimed to test whether engagement in different domains of leisure is associated with a composite index of mental health, both concurrently and subsequently. Longitudinal data including 10,968 participants (females = 5,804) with a mean age of 46.01 years in the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) were analyzed using generalized estimating equations with a logit link. The results showed that face-to-face experiences, such as sports with all ORs of < 1 at the significance level of α = 0.01 and meeting with all ORs of < 1 at the significance level of α = 0.01 except daily in-person meeting frequency, are important for protecting mental health owing to the increasing social support by building close ties. The results also indicate that online leisure with all ORs < 1 at the significance level of α = 0.01 has positive effects on lowering the odds of depression. In addition, receptive cognitive leisure, such as watching television or movies with all ORs < 1 at the significance level of α = 0.05 level, was not consistently associated with depression. However, active cognitive leisure, such as reading with all ORs of < 1 at a significance level of α = 0.01, was associated with lower odds of depression.

Environmental Status and Human Health: Evidence from China.

In recent years, there have been growing concerns about the environment and its effect on human health. In this paper, we measure human health by mortality. Firstly, we use the method of deviation decomposition to investigate the different changes of mortality in eastern, central and western regions of China. Secondly, we study the linearity and nonlinearity between environmental status and mortality by semi-parametric additive panel model. Following is the primary conclusions obtained in the study: (1) There exists a big mortality gap among different regions; the gap is mainly dominated by the inter-regional difference; the mortality of the middle region increases heavily; the western region becomes a major source of mortality differences. (2) Mortality decreased with the increase of urban green area. On the other hand, the higher the environmental pollution index, the higher the mortality rate. (3) The environmental pollution index, urban green area, number of licensed (assistant) physicians per thousand and the per capita GDP can affect mortality in a nonlinear way.