Spatial Heterogeneity and Regional Clustering of Factors Influencing Chinese Adolescents’ Physical Fitness

Abstract

There is often significant spatial heterogeneity in the factors influencing physical fitness in adolescents, yet less attention has been paid to this in established studies. Based on the 2018 Chinese National Student Physical Fitness Standard Test data, this study uses a multi-scale, geographically weighted regression (MGWR) model combined with a K-means clustering algorithm to construct a spatial regression model of the factors influencing adolescent physical fitness, and to investigate the degree of spatial variation in the physical fitness of Chinese adolescents from a socio-ecological perspective of health promotion. The following conclusions were drawn: the performance of the youth physical fitness regression model was significantly improved after taking spatial scale and heterogeneity into account. At the provincial scale, the non-farm output, average altitude, and precipitation of each region were strongly related to youth physical fitness, and each influencing factor generally showed a banded spatial heterogeneity pattern, which can be summarized into four types: N–S, E–W, NE–SW, and SE–NW. From the perspective of youth physical fitness, China can be divided into three regions of influence: the socio-economic-influenced region, mainly including the eastern region and some of the central provinces of China; the natural-environment-influenced region, which mainly includes the northwestern part of China and some provinces in the highland region; and the multi-factor joint-influenced region, which mainly includes the provinces in the central and northeastern regions of China. Finally, this study provides syndemic suggestions for physical fitness and health promotion for youths in each region.

Empirical analysis of spatial heterogeneity in the development of China’s National Fitness Plan

“…An abnormal index could potentially alter consumer behaviors in sports consumption, thereby affecting the development of the NFP. In Chinese contexts, the availability of public transportation can significantly influence the frequency of regular physical activity [ 21 ]. Hence, we consider the number of public buses in operation (x9) as a common indicator in our study.…”

Promoting Health for Adolescents: An Editorial

“…Health, and in particular adolescent health, are inexorably tied to the levels of physical activity and fitness; thus, a number of publications focused on this topic. Specifically, based on the 2018 Chinese National Student Physical Fitness Standard Test data, Tong et al, used a multi-scale approach to investigate the spatial heterogeneity and regional clustering of factors influencing Chinese adolescents' physical fitness, providing a nationallevel view [3]. Further granularity was achieved by a complementary publication by the same group, investigating the impact of environmental and socio-economic factors on low physical fitness, identifying opportunities for future investigations on regionalized coping strategies [4].…”