Can the parental socio-economic status promote the children to participate in physical exercise? An empirical study based on the survey data of CGSS 2017.

OBJECTIVE

This paper discusses the promotion effect and mechanism of the parental socio-economic status (SES) on their offspring's participation in physical exercise and provides direction and guidance for the formulation of sports public policies.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

7,965 data were obtained from the 2017 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) dataset. To investigate the effect and mechanism of parental SES in encouraging offspring to engage in physical activity, this paper used a binary logistic regression model and an ordinal logistic regression model. The moderating effects of urban-rural variables and birth cohorts were explored through hierarchical regression analysis and regression coefficient difference test. Robustness tests were performed by sample screening and model replacement.

RESULTS

After controlling for related variables, the parental SES can improve the possibility of children's participation in physical exercise (OR = 1.134, p < 0.01). Part of this promotion effect is realized by improving their children's education level (19.87%) and social communication (2.56%), and the promotion effect increases gradually with the passage of time and social changes. The robustness test results show that the empirical research results are reliable.

CONCLUSIONS

The parental SES can promote their children to participate in physical exercise.