Higher socioeconomic status was associated with more school- and community-based sport opportunities, higher exercise self-efficacy, more physical activity, and better later mental wellbeing among Chinese adolescents, with significant indirect effects via both sport pathways, though the observational design and concurrent Time 2 measurement mean these are plausible intervention targets rather than demonstrated causal mechanisms.
Higher socioeconomic status was associated with greater opportunities to participate in sport at school and in the community.
Greater school and community sport opportunities were associated with higher exercise self-efficacy.
Higher exercise self-efficacy was associated with greater physical activity.
Higher physical activity at Time 2 was associated with higher mental wellbeing at Time 3.
The indirect effects of socioeconomic status on mental wellbeing were significant via both the school-based and community-based sport pathways.
The modelled variables accounted for a large share of the variance in later mental wellbeing.
The study sample declined across the three waves.
The authors caution that the findings identify modifiable correlates and plausible intervention targets, not demonstrated causal mechanisms.
This study followed Chinese adolescents across three time points to see whether family socioeconomic background is linked to mental wellbeing through access to sport, confidence in exercising, and physical activity. Adolescents from higher socioeconomic backgrounds had more opportunities to play sport at school and in their communities. Those opportunities were linked to greater confidence in exercising (exercise self-efficacy), which was linked to more physical activity, which in turn was linked to better mental wellbeing later in adolescence. The pathways through school sport and community sport both showed small but statistically significant indirect effects of socioeconomic status on wellbeing. Together the modelled variables accounted for about 77% of the variation in later wellbeing. The sample shrank from 328 to 240 adolescents over the three waves. This research suggests that expanding sport opportunities in schools and communities, and building young people's confidence to be active, could be worthwhile targets, especially for adolescents from lower-income or rural backgrounds. However, the study was observational and several key measures were taken at the same time, so it cannot prove that these factors cause better wellbeing.
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Upload Your LabsGongga N, Lu Y, Lee S. (2026). Socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent mental wellbeing in China-a longitudinal path analysis of sport opportunities, exercise self-efficacy, and physical activity.. Frontiers in public health. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1916205