Socioeconomic differences in leisure-time physical activity: the role of social participation and social capital in shaping health related behaviour

Several studies have shown socioeconomic differences in leisure-time physic al activity. One explanation may be socioeconomic differences in relevant p sychosocial conditions. The Malmo Diet and Cancer Study is a prospective co hort study including inhabitants in Malmo, Sweden. The baseline questionnai re used in this cross-sectional study was completed by the 11,837 participa nts born 1926-1945 in 1992-1994. Leisure-time physical activity was measure d by an item presenting a variety of activities. These activities were aggr egated into a summary measure of leisure-time physical activity that takes both the intensity and duration of each specific activity into consideratio n. The effects of the psychosocial variables on the socioeconomic differenc es in leisure-time physical activity were calculated in a multivariate logi stic regression analysis. The quartile with the lowest degree of leisure-ti me physical activity was not evenly distributed between the socioeconomic g roups. Socioeconomic differences were seen as odds ratios 1.5 for skilled a nd 1.5 for unskilled male manual workers, compared to the high level non-ma nual employees. An OR 1.6 was observed for female unskilled manual workers. Self-employed men and female pensioners also had a significantly increased risk of low leisure-time physical activity. Adjustment for age, country of origin and previous/current diseases had no effect on these SES difference s. Finally, adjusting for social participation almost completely erased the SES differences. Among the psychosocial variables, social participation wa s the strongest predictor of low physical activity, and a strong predictor for socioeconomic differences in low leisure-time physical activity. Social participation measures the individual's social activities in, for example political parties and organisations. It therefore seems possible that some of the socioeconomic differences in leisure-time physical activity are due to differing social capital between socioeconomic groups. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.