Perceived family relationships and social participation through sports of urban older adults living alone: An analysis of the mediating effect of self-respect levels

INTRODUCTION: The perception of good family relationship is an important factor to promote social participation through sports of older adults living alone. This study explores the influence of perceived family relationship on sports sociability and its group differences, and then discusses the mediating effect of self-respect. METHODS: Based on the survey data of 2,801 older adults living alone in Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hohhot, and Dalian, the quantitative index of their “activeness in social participation through sports” was constructed. The OLS model, the Ologit model, the instrumental variable method and the mediating effect were used to explore the influence mechanism of perceived family relationships of urban older adults living alone on their sport participation. RESULTS: The results demonstrate that: (1) Older adults 's activeness in sport participation in China is generally at a low level; (2) perceived family relationships have an impact on activeness in sport participation, i.e. positive family relationships will increase their activeness in sport participation, and there are evident gender differences in this tendency; (3) there are regional differences in the activeness in SPS among the older adults living alone in urban areas, and perceived family relationships in first-tier and second-tier cities have a more significant impact on their activeness in sport participation; (4) the mediating effect analysis shows that perceived family relationships can indirectly promote urban old adults' activeness in sport participation through the reconstruction of their self-respect, and this is more pronounced in women. DISCUSSION: Therefore, the important role of families cannot be ignored in promoting sport participation of the older adults.