Socioeconomic disparities and inequality of mass sports participation: Analysis from Chinese General Social Survey 2010–2018

BACKGROUND: With industrialization, urbanization, and modernization, mass sports have entered people's daily lives to maintain their health status. However, less attention has been paid to the heterogeneity and inequality of access to mass sports, especially in developing countries. This study aims to analyze the factors that affect mass sports participation in developing countries represented by China, and explain the changing trends and inequality in the class differentiation and mobility of public sports participation. METHODS: The study selected the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) data in 2010 and 2018 as the research samples, and used an ordered Probit model and sub-sample regression to analyze the factors and trends of Chinese residents' mass sports participation and the influencing factors. By stratified three-stage probability sampling, the study obtained 4,940 valid responses, including 1,014 in CGSS 2010 and 3926 in CGSS 2018. RESULTS: First, in terms of social factors, urban residents have a higher frequency of sports participation than rural residents. Second, regarding family factors, residents with higher social classes are more likely to participate in sports than those with lower social classes. Third, in terms of self-induced factors, the elderly are more motivated to exercise than the young. Residents with public-sector jobs, high incomes, and higher education levels are keener to participate in sports. Fourth, residents' mass sports participation rate has generally shown an upward trend over time. Fifth, with time changes, the sports participation rate varies between urban and rural areas, between ethnic minorities and Han ethnic, between old and young age groups, and between higher and lower education levels will continue to shrink, but differences between social classes will further increase over time. CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis demonstrated that hidden inequality existed in accessing mass sports participation in developing countries, and the self-induced characteristics were significantly correlated with the quality of sports participation. Future public sports policies should address the inequity to ensure equal access to affordable qualified personal mass sports.