Correlates of Regular Participation in Sports Groups among Japanese Older Adults: JAGES Cross–Sectional Study

Abstract

BackgroundParticipation in a sports group is key for the prevention of incident functional disability. Little is known about the correlates of older adults’ participation in sports groups, although this could assist with the development of effective health strategies. The purpose of this study was to identify the demographic and biological, psychosocial, behavioral, social and cultural, and environmental correlates of sports group participation among Japanese older adults.MethodsData were obtained from the Japan Gerontological Evaluation study, which was a population–based cohort of people aged ≥65 years without disability enrolled from 31 municipalities across Japan (n = 78,002). Poisson regression analysis was used to determine the associations between the factors and participation in sports groups.ResultsNon-regular participation in sports groups was associated with lower educational level, being employed, and working the longest in the agricultural/forestry/fishery industry among the demographic and biological factors and poor self-rated health and depression among the psychosocial factors. Of the behavioral factors, current smoking was negatively associated and current drinking was positively associated with regular participation in sports groups. Among the social and cultural factors, having emotional social support and participating in hobby clubs, senior citizen clubs, or volunteer groups were associated with a high prevalence of participation in sports groups. Perceptions of the presence of parks or sidewalks, good access to shops, and good accessibility to facilities were positively associated with participation in sports groups among the environmental factors.ConclusionsOur study suggests that the promotion of activities that could increase older adults’ participation in sports groups should consider a broad range of demographic and biological, psychosocial, behavioral, social and cultural, and environmental factors. Although future longitudinal studies to elucidate the causal associations are needed, encouraging participation in community groups through social networks might be effective for participation in sports groups.

Exercising alone versus with others and associations with subjective health status in older Japanese: The JAGES Cohort Study

“…The third is that we used combinations of two variable categories for “total frequency of exercise”, which may have resulted in a slight lack of accuracy. The fourth is that there may be a confounding effect from demographic and psychosocial factors related to exercising with others28, which we did not examine. The fifth is that the study was cross-sectional, and therefore cannot determine causal relationships.…”

Factors that promote new or continuous participation in social group activity among Japanese community‐dwelling older adults: A 2‐year longitudinal study

“…PrG and PuG have common related factors, such as better mental health for new participation and more intimate relationships with neighbors for new or continuous participation. Health status and social relationships are strongly related to sports group participation, and other longitudinal studies showed that social capital and social function affect engagement in volunteer work . Individuals who have good relationships with their neighbors are more likely to obtain information about social groups and to receive encouragement from neighbors to participate in such activities.…”

“…First, volunteer, hobby and sports groups were classified as private groups (PrG), as they comprise members who engage in specific activities and share common interests. According to previous studies, private groups have similar related factors of participation . Second, neighborhood associations and senior citizen clubs were categorized as public groups (PuG), as they are organized by local community members and offer multiple activities to enhance the lives of members.…”

“…To identify the factors that influence social group participation, we selected variables that were previously reported as being significantly related to social participation in Japanese community‐dwelling older adults. Yamakita reported that demographic, social, health status and environmental factors were related to sports group participation . As we sought to identify the factors that influence social group participation with the ultimate goal of developing individual or community‐level interventions, we excluded environmental factors in the present study.…”

“…Previous studies have identified factors that influence involvement in volunteer work and sports groups . Most of these studies investigated group activities that comprised specific activities in which participants were interested, but did not examine less specialized types of social groups, such as neighborhood associations or senior citizen clubs.…”