From behavior to belonging: reframing exercise participation as a psychosocial pathway to active aging.

Exercise participation had a significant indirect effect on life satisfaction through psychological wellbeing.

• The indirect pathway through psychological wellbeing had a standardized coefficient of β = 0.20, p < 0.001
• This was tested using structural equation modeling in a sample of 412 older adults in South Korea
• The study drew on eudaimonic wellbeing theory to frame this pathway

Exercise participation had a significant indirect effect on life satisfaction through social connectedness.

• The indirect pathway through social connectedness had a standardized coefficient of β = 0.17, p < 0.001
• This was tested using structural equation modeling in a sample of 412 older adults in South Korea
• The study drew on the social ecology of aging to frame this pathway

Psychosocial mediators (psychological wellbeing and social connectedness) together accounted for 43% of the total effect of exercise participation on life satisfaction.

• The dual-mediation model included both psychological wellbeing and social connectedness as simultaneous mediators
• The remaining proportion of the total effect was attributed to the direct effect of exercise participation on life satisfaction
• The sample consisted of 412 older adults in South Korea

Exercise participation was found to enhance life satisfaction both directly and indirectly through a dual-mediation model.

• Structural equation modeling was used to test the dual-mediation model
• The study included 412 older adults in South Korea
• The model linked exercise participation, psychological wellbeing, social connectedness, and life satisfaction
• Both direct and indirect pathways were statistically significant