The role of subjective well-being in serious leisure and active aging: Evidence from older Chinese Tai Chi participants

Abstract

As leisure awareness has improved, increasing numbers of older adults have begun to participate seriously in leisure activities to experience greater happiness and enhance their quality of life. This study examined the mediating role of subjective well-being in serious leisure and active aging (AA) among older Tai Chi (TC) participants. We proposed a model mediated by subjective well-being and validated this model using stepwise regression and bootstrapping methods. Data were collected from 286 older adults who engaged seriously in TC in Hangzhou, China. The results showed that (a) subjective well-being partially mediates the relationship between serious leisure and AA; (b) subjective well-being partially mediates the relationships between serious leisure and the four subdimensions of AA; (c) among the four subdimensions, the mediating effect of subjective well-being on the relationship between serious leisure and interpersonal support and the direct effect of serious leisure on body vitality are relatively large. These results help explain the intricate relationship between serious leisure and AA among older TC participants and have theoretical and practical implications for those who are interested in the phenomenon of aging.

Keywords

serious leisure subjective well-being active aging mediating effect Tai Chi

As the global level of health care services improves and life expectancy rises, an increasing number of countries are experiencing population aging. In China, 264.02 million people were aged 60 and older in 2020, accounting for 18.70% of the total population (Xinhua News Agency, 2021). In addition, forecast data from China Daily Report (2020) showed that China's aging population will continue to grow rapidly over the next 30 years. To positively respond to population aging, the World Health Organization (2002) has developed a positive and comprehensive concept of “active aging (AA),” which advocates enhancing the quality of older adults’ lives by expanding opportunities for health, participation, and security. Previous studies have explored the factors influencing AA in depth (Cheng et al., 2017; Lee et al., 2020), and some Western scholars have highlighted the important role of serious leisure in AA (Joseph and Southcott, 2019; Kim et al., 2014). Serious leisure (SL) is the systematic pursuit of deep satisfaction through an amateur, hobbyist, or volunteer activity that participants find so substantial and interesting that they typically embark on a career centered on acquiring and expressing their particular skills, knowledge, and experience (Stebbins, 1992). Some studies have demonstrated that older adults could participate seriously in sports activities to maintain their good health, appearance, and vitality and become more confident and sociable, allowing them to enjoy a better quality of life during their aging process (Gregory and Dimmock, 2019; Lee et al., 2020; Wheaton, 2017). In China, many older adults have begun to participate in leisure activities to experience greater happiness and enhance their quality of life in recent years (Li, 2021). Although the literature has explored the relationship between SL and AA, few studies have focused on Chinese older adults (Li and Southcott, 2015; Southcott and Li, 2018).

Subjective well-being (SWB) refers to an individual's evaluation of his or her quality of life (Diener et al., 1999). As the basis of leisure is doing what one likes, many scholars believe that SL engagement is an important predictor of SWB among older adults (Heo et al., 2010; Lee and Hwang, 2018; Long and Wang, 2013). In addition, some studies have confirmed that SWB can positively influence AA (Silverstein and Parker, 2002; Wu et al., 2020). The existing literature has paid more attention to the relationships between SL and AA, SL and SWB, and SWB and AA, and few studies have explored the relationships among these three factors. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the role of SWB in SL and AA. Furthermore, it is also essential to explore the impact of SL and SWB on the subdimensions of AA to better interpret the phenomenon of AA among Chinese SL sports participants.

In addition, Tai Chi (TC), part of China's intangible national cultural heritage, is a traditional form of Chinese martial arts. At present, more than 50 million people practice TC in China (China People's Network, 2019). The main feature of TC is its flowing movements, including loosening up, relaxing, and practicing meditation with slow abdominal respiration, which makes it a suitable exercise for older adults to maintain physical and mental health (Li et al., 2012; Lu et al., 2013; Yau and Packer, 2002). In addition, several studies have noted that long-term practice of TC helps older adults promote social interaction and increase perceived social support (Koren et al., 2021; Li et al., 2019). Therefore, TC has become one of the most common and popular forms of leisure sport activity among older Chinese adults. Accordingly, this study explored the relationships among SL, SWB, and AA in the context of older TC participants in China.

Literature review

Serious leisure among older adults

Participants in serious leisure usually exhibit six distinguishing qualities: perseverance, career development, significant effort, durable benefits, strong identification, and unique ethos (Stebbins, 1992). Perseverance refers to their tendency to stick with an activity and overcome adversities, such as unpleasant weather conditions, embarrassment, or fatigue. Career development indicates the availability of a leisure career, which relies on significant effort to develop specific knowledge or skills. Durable benefits refer to personal and social rewards, such as involvement in additional social interactions, feelings of accomplishment and belongingness, and the maintenance of good physical health. Strong identification indicates that participants in SL prefer to identify strongly with their activity. Finally, unique ethos refers to the development of a distinct social world with unique beliefs, values, and goals (Stebbins, 1992). Previous studies have suggested that older adults who perceive leisure activities to be forms of SL embrace all six SL characteristics (Cheng et al., 2017; Lee and Kim, 2018). In addition, many scholars have found that in Western countries or North America, older adults have broad choices for SL sports activities (Cheng et al., 2016; Joseph and Southcott, 2019), including X-sports such as scuba diving (Gregory and Dimmock, 2019) and surfing (Wheaton, 2017). In China, most older adults tend to seriously participate in conventional and traditional sports, such as TC (Yau and Packer, 2002) and swimming (Zhang and Wang).

Active aging

AA is an important strategy based on positive psychology for coping with the problems of aging (WHO, 2002). It advocates that the older adults should have more opportunities and explores their potential to constantly improve themselves, create value, and achieve their own happiness, consistent with the view of serious leisure. Although in recent years, the WHO has supplemented and improved some aging strategies such as healthy aging (2019) and AA (2015), most studies still focus on the concept of AA proposed in 2002 and explore the specific contents of AA in different contexts (Buys and Miller, 2012; Chan and Liang, 2013). For example, in the context of Thailand, Thanakwang et al. (2014) argued that AA should include six aspects, namely, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, active social integration, active learning, promoting financial security, strengthening family relationships, and developing spiritual wisdom. Hu (2012) claimed that the AA of older Chinese adults includes four specific aspects: body vitality, active attitude, interpersonal support, and social participation. Body vitality is evaluated as the ability of older adults’ bodies to move. It is a necessary condition for maintaining normal physiological activities, engaging in production, living and learning, and integrating into society. Active attitude is related to the mental health of older adults. It includes regarding and resolving every issue in life positively, feeling happy most of the time, and rarely feeling lonely. Interpersonal support of older adults refers to the interpersonal understanding, encouragement, and assistance of family and peers. Social participation refers to the willingness of older adults to continue to help the people around them, participate in social affairs, and make contributions to society. Clearly, Hu's (2012) interpretation of AA is better suited to the purpose and context of this study; accordingly, we base our further exploration of AA on this interpretation.

Serious leisure and active aging

Over the past two decades, some studies have suggested that leisure participation has tremendous potential to contribute to aging well. Many qualitative studies have indicated that SL can promote the AA of older adults by helping them obtain a variety of durable benefits. Specifically, serious involvement in leisure activities could benefit older adults in many ways, such as strengthening physical health, developing psychological benefits, and creating social support (Brown et al., 2008; Siegenthaler and O’Dell, 2003; Stevens-Ratchford, 2016). Previous quantitative studies have measured the characteristics of SL, levels of leisure engagement, and contributions of SL to overall well-being, life satisfaction, and quality of life among older adults (Heo et al., 2018b; Kim et al., 2021; Zhang and Wang, 2012). Furthermore, existing studies have examined the relationship between SL and AA in different leisure activities, such as golf (Siegenthaler and O’Dell, 2003), swimming (Zhang and Wang, 2012), volunteering (Chen, 2014), pickleball (Heo et al., 2018a), and dancing (Lee and Heo, 2020). Notably, various types of SL activities have been shown to have positive effects on AA in a study by Lee and Payne (2015).

Serious leisure and subjective well-being

SWB could reflect an overall evaluation of the quality of a person's life from his or her perspective (Diener et al., 1999, 2018). Previous studies have focused on the influencing factors of SWB, ranging from personal internal factors to external, objective variables (Hayes and Joseph, 2003; Richard and Diener, 2009; Ross et al., 1986). With the gradual deepening of related research, some scholars have become interested in the effect of leisure involvement on SWB. Many studies have measured the SL qualities and SWB of people engaged in various leisure activities, and the results of these studies suggest that respondents with more significant SL qualities exhibit increased SWB (Chen, 2014; Lee and Hwang, 2018; Liu and Yu, 2015). Furthermore, many scholars have explored the relationship between SL and SWB by introducing variables related to mastery, meaning, and affiliation (Newman et al., 2014), such as cycling specialization (Tian et al., 2020), volunteering motivation (Pi et al., 2014), and belonging (Yang et al., 2019). These studies have further demonstrated that SL is remarkably associated with SWB.

Subjective well-being and active aging

Previous studies have demonstrated a correlation between SWB and AA (Dai et al., 2015; Wu et al., 2020). Some scholars have claimed that SWB may be a criterion for aging well (Blanco-Molina et al., 2019). Other scholars have claimed that SWB has a direct impact on AA. For example, Strawbridge et al. (2002) found that well-being is positively associated with the self-perception of aging well. Dai et al. (2015) explored the relationship between SWB and the subdimensions of AA in further detail, finding significant correlations between SWB and the health, family, and finance subdimensions of AA. Recently, many studies have identified SWB as one of the most important predictors of self-perceptions of AA, and the results of these studies have suggested that involvement in leisure activities or other factors can affect AA indirectly by enhancing SWB (Cho et al., 2015; Cuenca et al., 2014).

Relationships among serious leisure, subjective well-being, and active aging

In China, although many older adults participate in SL activities to enhance their quality of life and realize AA, few scholars are interested in this phenomenon. Most previous research has focused on older adults in Western countries or North American. These studies have provided strong academic support for exploring the relationships among SL, SWB, and AA. The literature review based on this material suggests that serious involvement in leisure activities can improve the SWB of older adults significantly and that their AA improves as their SWB increases. Accordingly, we posit that SWB may play a mediating role in the relationship between SL and AA as well as the relationships between SL and the four subdimensions of AA, i.e. body vitality, active attitude, interpersonal support, and social participation. The exact relationships among these three variables must be explored among older adults in the context of China, which has more than 250 million older adults and which emphasizes that the key to actively coping with the aging population is to effectively enhance the well-being of older adults (State Council of the People's Republic of China, 2021). Thus, the following hypotheses are proposed (as shown in Figure 1):

Figure 1.

Proposed conceptual model.

Hypothesis 1: SWB mediates the relationship between SL and AA.

Hypothesis 1a: SWB mediates the relationship between SL and the body vitality dimension of AA.

Hypothesis 1b: SWB mediates the relationship between SL and the active attitude dimension of AA.

Hypothesis 1c: SWB mediates the relationship between SL and the interpersonal support dimension of AA.

Hypothesis 1d: SWB mediates the relationship between SL and the social participation dimension of AA.

Methods

Data collection

The data analyzed in this study were collected in Hangzhou from August to December 2021. Hangzhou is a city with a profound TC culture that strongly advocates the spirit of martial arts. In May of each year, World Tai Chi Propaganda Month, the entire Kung Fu association in Hangzhou makes every effort to spread and popularize TC. At present, more than 100,000 people practice TC in Hangzhou (Hangzhou Network, 2010). During the collection process for the questionnaires, the participants consented to and were informed of the purpose of the survey, and the ethical review was approved by local legislation. In total, 306 paper questionnaires were randomly delivered to older TC participants in the main city of Hangzhou. Before participants formally completed the questionnaire, we asked them whether they had been practicing TC for a long time, whether they intended to continue practicing TC in the future, and whether they regarded it as a very important aspect of their later life. Only those who confirmed these criteria were invited to complete the questionnaire. In addition, according to the purpose of this study, the participants were required to be 60 years old or older. Accordingly, 286 valid questionnaires were retained for inclusion in the data analysis after removing obviously incomplete questionnaires, yielding a 93% overall response rate.

Measurement

Serious leisure

Previous studies have proven that the Serious Leisure Inventory and Scale (SLIM) proposed by Gould et al. (2011) has great reliability and validity in the field of SL sports activities among older adults, e.g. table tennis, yoga, gate ball (Yang et al., 2019), square dancing (Schneider and McCoy, 2018), and pickleball (Heo et al., 2018b). These results provide reasonable grounds for using the SLIM to quantify SL in this research. Furthermore, the research team, which comprised one professor and two graduate students from Hangzhou who focus on leisure sports for older adults and two members of the Hangzhou Tai Chi Association who were older than 60 years, made a few adjustments to the SLIM to make it more applicable for this study. For instance, the item “When my TC team achieves results, I will have a sense of accomplishment” did not suit our actual conditions, so we deleted it. The SL questionnaire consists of six dimensions and comprises the following 12 items: perseverance (one item), personal effort (one item), unique ethos (one item), identity (one item), career (two items, career progress and career contingencies), and durable benefits (six items). The items were scored using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). As Table 1 shows, the Cronbach's alpha for SL items was .897.

Table 1.

Means and statistical analysis of serious leisure, subjective well-being and AA.

Variables and dimensions	Mean	SD	FL	CA	CR	AVE
Serious leisure	4.149	.329		.897	.897	.594
Perseverance	4.380	.411	.779
Personal effort	4.420	.496	.743
Identity	4.300	.562	.762
Unique ethos	4.160	.622	.701
Career development	4.040	.531	.680
Durable benefits	4.078	.356	.933
Subjective well-being	5.791	1.114		.911	.920	.701
SWB1	5.770	1.348	.795
SWB2	6.000	1.147	.928
SWB3	6.090	1.040	.920
SWB4	5.690	1.631	.822
SWB5	5.400	2.388	.698
Active aging	4.152	0.379		.903	.838	.566
Body vitality	3.899	.631	.743
Active attitude	4.418	.414	.867
Interpersonal support	4.132	.581	.719
Social participation	4.169	.669	.664

CA = Cronbach's alpha, SD = standard deviation, FL = factor loading, CR = composite reliability, AVE = average variance extracted, SWB1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are the items included in the measurement of subjective well-being.

Active aging

In this study, AA was measured by the Positive Aging Assessment Questionnaire (PAEQ), which was developed by Hu in the context of China (2012). The specific content of this scale is from the perspective of individuals, which is consistent with the purpose of this study. Furthermore, the research team adjusted some of the specific content of the PAEQ to make it more suitable for this study. For instance, we changed the item “Your children can often help you” to “Your families and friends can often help you.” The AA questionnaire consists of four dimensions and 14 items: body vitality (four items), active attitude (four items), interpersonal support (three items), and social participation (three items). The items were scored using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (obviously inconsistent) to 5 (obviously consistent). Internal consistency reliability was established for the PAEQ with Cronbach's alpha (α = .903) (see Table 1).

Subjective well-being

SWB was measured by the Satisfaction with Life Scale, which was developed by Diener et al. (1999). The scale includes five items that require the respondents’ global cognitive judgments of relatively long-term feelings about life (Heo and Lee, 2010). It is one of the most recommended measures of SWB and has been applied in many studies (Hu, 2012; Lee and Hwang, 2018; Tian et al., 2020). In this study, we used the Chinese version translated by Tian et al. (2020). Each item was scored using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (completely disagree) to 7 (completely agree). An example item is “If I retrace my steps in life, I don't want to change anything.” As Table 1 shows, the internal consistency was .911.

Analytical strategies

The specific procedure of data analysis was as follows: (1) In the preparatory stage, SPSS 25.0 was used to calculate Cronbach's alpha (CA) and descriptive statistics (means, frequencies, percentages, and standard deviations). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted using AMOS 34.0 to evaluate the reliability and validity of each construct in the hypothesized model. (2) To test the mediation model and its effect values, we followed the mediation test steps proposed by Wen and Ye (2014) and Hayes (2017). First, SPSS 25.0 was used to analyze the correlations among the variables and conduct stepwise regression among variables to determine whether the hypothesized model held. Subsequently, bootstrapping was conducted using PROCESS V2.16.3 in SPSS to calculate the effect values of the hypothesized model. (3) The same method as used in step two was employed to explore the relationships among SL, SWB, and the four subdimensions of AA in further detail.

Results

Respondent profiles

This study was conducted by reference to a sample of individuals who participate in TC, and the demographics of the respondents are shown in Table 2. In this study, there were more female participants (170, 59.4%) than male participants (116, 40.6%). More than half of the TC participants were aged 60–70 (188, 65.7%), while a few participants were 81 years old and older (9, 3.1%). The majority of the participants (197, 68.9%) had a high school, technical secondary school, or lower education level. Most of the respondents were married (265, 92.7%), and only one person was unmarried. More than one-third of the participants (116, 40.6%) earned more than RMB 5001 per month, which is almost higher than the average level in Hangzhou (i.e. RMB 5165.58) (Zhejiang Statistical Yearbook, 2021). Most of the respondents (212, 74.1%) had joined a TC group.

Table 2.

Descriptive statistics for the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents (n = 286).

Variable	Frequency	Percentage (%)
Gender
Male	116	40.6
Female	170	59.4
Age
60–70	188	65.7
71–80	89	31.2
81 and above	9	3.1
Education
Junior high school, elementary school, or below	91	31.8
High school, technical secondary school	106	37.1
Junior college	49	17.1
Bachelor's degree or above	40	14.0
Marital status
Unmarried	1	0.3
Married	265	92.7
Divorced or living alone	20	7.0
Income (RMB/month)
3000 and below	54	18.9
3001–5000	116	40.6
5001–10,000	98	34.3
10,001 and above	18	6.3
TC group
Member	212	74.1
Non-member	74	25.9

Descriptive statistics of the variables

As Table 1 shows, the older TC participants in this study exhibited relatively high scores regarding SL qualities, ranging from 4.040 to 4.420. Personal effort (M = 4.420; SD = 0.496) and perseverance (M = 4.380; SD = 0.411) were the qualities on which the older TC participants agreed the most, and the average score of SL in this context was 4.149 (SD = 0.329). For subjective well-being, SWB3 (M = 6.090; SD = 1.040) and SWB2 (M = 6.000; SD = 1.147) exhibited relatively high scores, and the average score of SWB was 5.791 (SD = 1.114). Similarly, older TC participants exhibited high scores on AA, ranging from 3.899 to 4.418. Active attitude (M = 4.418; SD = 0.414) was the dimension on which the TC participants agreed the most, and the average score of AA was 4.152 (SD = 0.53).

The results of CFA verified that all observed variables could be used effectively to evaluate the latent construct in the hypothesized model. Previous studies have suggested that factor loadings (FL) of indicators higher than 0.60 are acceptable (Guadagnoli and Velicer, 1988), with a recommended acceptable standard of composite reliability (CR) value higher than 0.70 and an average variance extracted (AVE) value higher than 0.50 (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). For serious leisure, the FL ranged between 0.680 and 0.933, the CR was 0.897, and the AVE was 0.594. For subjective well-being, the FL ranged between 0.698 and 0.928, the CR was 0.920 and the AVE was 0.701. The FL of all the subdimensions of AA ranged between 0.664 and 0.867, the CR was 0.838, and the AVE was 0.566. Therefore, the constructs in the hypothesized model exhibited acceptable reliability and validity.

Correlation analysis of variables

This study used the Pearson correlation coefficient (Rodgers and Nicewander, 1988) to analyze the degrees of correlation among SL, SWB, AA, and the four subdimensions of AA. The specific analysis results are shown in Table 3, indicating statistically significant positive correlations among the three variables of SL, SWB, and AA. In addition, SL, SWB and body vitality, active attitude, interpersonal support, and social participation of AA also exhibit statistically significant positive correlations. These results indicated that the regression analysis could be performed with the variables, providing a great foundation for the subsequent test of the mediating effect.

Table 3.

Relevant relationships for each variable (n = 286).

	SL	SWB	AA	AA1	AA2	AA3	AA4
Serious leisure (SL)	1
Subjective well-being (SWB)	.581**	1
Active aging (AA)	.700**	.732**	1
Body vitality (AA1)	.581**	.551**	.891**	1
Active attitude (AA2)	.602**	.647**	.851**	.651**	1
Interpersonal support (AA3)	.531**	.616**	.802**	.500**	.633**	1
Social participation (AA4)	.574**	.586**	.799**	.517**	.556**	.500**	1

*p < 0.05; ^**p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001 (also for below).

Test of the mediating effect of subjective well-being

After controlling for the covariates of gender, age, education, marital status, income, and TC group, we conducted a test to examine the regression effect between the independent variable (X) and the dependent variable (Y). The results are shown in Table 4. SL was positively associated with AA (β = .675, t = 15.700, p < .001) and SWB (β = .056, t = 11.514, p < .001), and SWB was positively associated with AA (β = .399, t = 9.186, p < .001), thus supporting H1. The results indicated that the hypothesized model of SWB as a mediating variable was valid. Furthermore, as Table 5 shows, the total effect value of the mediation model is 0.731 ([.639, .822], not containing 0), the direct effect value is 0.432 ([.340, .525], not containing 0), and the indirect effect size is 0.298 ([.263, .444], not containing 0).

Table 4.

Stepwise regression results of the model of SL, SWB and AA (n = 286).

	AA		Y X	SWB		Y X	AA
	β	t	Y X	β	t	Y X	β	t
Gender	−.127	−2.848***	Gen.	−.057	−1.123	Gen.	−.092	−2.170*
Age	.028	.642*	Age	.164	3.309**	Age	−.102	−2.445*
Education	−.031	−.625	Edu.	−.098	−1.724	Edu.	.020	.415
Marital status	−.033	−.762	Mar.	−.069	−1.418	Mar.	−.011	−.272
Income (per month)	−.044	−.088	Inc.	−.032	−.576	Inc.	−.019	−.413
TC group	−.087	−1.999*	Gro.	.010	.197	Gro.	−.141	−3.427**
SL	.675	15.700***	SL	.056	11.514***	SWB	.399	9.186***
F	42.014***		F	24.148***		F	51.079***
R ²	.514		R²	.378		R²	.563
Adjusted R²	.502		ΔR²	.362		ΔR²	.552

All variables in the model are based on standardized data. X indicates an independent variable, while Y indicates a dependent variable.

Table 5.

The mediating effect of SWB in the model of SL, SWB, and AA (n = 286).

	Bootstrapping
	Effect value	SE	Percentile 95% CI
	Effect value	SE	Lower	Upper
Total effect	.731	.047	.639	.822
Direct effect (c’/c)	.432 (.591)	.047	.340	.525
Indirect effect (ab/c)	.298 (.408)	.040	.226	.387

c’/c represents the ratio of the direct effect to the total effect, while ab/c represents the ratio of the indirect effect to the total effect.

To obtain a more comprehensive and deeper understanding of the roles of SL and SWB in promoting AA among older TC participants, we used the same steps to explore the relationships among SL, SWB, and the body vitality (AA1), active attitude (AA2), interpersonal support (AA3) and social participation (AA4) subdimensions of AA in further detail. The stepwise regression results are shown in Table 6. In Model a, SL was positively associated with AA (β = .577, t = 11.880, p < .001) and SWB (β = .560, t = 11.514, p < .001), and SWB was positively associated with AA (β = .554, t = 10.939, p < .001); thus, H1a was supported. In Model b, SL was positively associated with AA (β = .570, t = 11.858, p < .001) and SWB (β = .560, t = 11.514, p < .001), and SWB was positively associated with AA (β = .628, t = 13.479, p < .001); thus, H1b was supported. In Model c, SL was positively associated with AA (β = .494, t = 9.706, p < .001) and SWB (β = .560, t = 11.514, p < .001), and SWB was positively associated with AA (β = .591, t = 10.939, p < 0.001); thus, H1c was supported. In Model d, SL was positively associated with AA (β =.560, t = 11.266, p < .001) and SWB (β = .560, t = 11.514, p < .001), and SWB was positively associated with AA (β = .606, t = 12.423, p < .001); thus, H1d was supported.

Table 6.

Stepwise regression results of the models of SL, SWB, and the subdimensions of AA (n = 286).

	β	t	F	R ²	Adjusted R²
Model a
SL-AA1	.577	11.880***	24.185***	.378	.363
SL-SWB	.560	11.514***	24.148***	.378	.362
SWB-AA1	.554	10.939***	20.912***	.345	.328
Model b
SL-AA2	.570	11.858***	25.623***	.392	.377
SL-SWB	.560	11.514***	24.148***	.378	.362
SWB-AA2	.628	13.479***	32.035***	.446	.433
Model c
SL-AA3	.494	9.706***	18.531***	.318	.301
SL-SWB	.560	11.514***	24.148***	.378	.362
SWB-AA3	.591	12.278***	27.380***	.408	.393
Mode d
SL-AA4	.560	11.266***	21.443***	.351	.334
SL-SWB	.560	11.514***	24.148***	.378	.362
SWB-AA4	.606	12.423***	25.582***	.392	.376

Model a: SL, SWB and body vitality; Model b: SL, SWB and active attitude; Model c: SL, SWB and Interpersonal Support; Model d: SL, SWB and social participation.

On this basis, we also used bootstrapping to calculate the effect values of Models a, b, c, and d. The results, which are shown in Table 7, indicate the following: (1) The mediating effects of SWB between SL and the four subdimensions of AA are all significant (the percentile 95% CI of the indirect effects of the four models do not contain 0); (2) the direct effect of SL on body vitality is far stronger than its effect on the other dimensions of AA (c’/c = .684 > .581 > .567 > .488, a > b > d > c); (3) among the four subdimensions of AA, the mediating effect of subjective well-being on the relationship between serious leisure and interpersonal support is relatively large (ab/c = .512 > .433 > .419 > .316, c > b > d > a).

Table 7.

The mediating effect of SWB in Models a, b, c, and d (n = 286).

	Bootstrapping
	Effect value	SE	Percentile 95% CI
	Effect value	SE	Lower	Upper
Total effect
Model a	.809	.068	.675	.943
Model b	.646	.055	.539	.754
Model c	.664	.068	.529	.798
Model d	.807	.072	.666	.948
Direct effect (c’/c)
Model a	.553(.684)	.078	.399	.707
Model b	.366(.567)	.060	.249	.483
Model c	.324(.488)	.075	.176	.472
Model d	.469(.581)	.080	.312	.626
Indirect effect (ab/c)
Model a	.256(.316)	.052	.163	.365
Model b	.280(.433)	.048	.196	.387
Model c	.340(.512)	.059	.233	.462
Model d	.338(.419)	.056	.237	.456

c’/c represents the ratio of the direct effect to the total effect, while ab/c represents the ratio of the indirect effect to the total effect.

Discussion

As people's leisure awareness continues to improve in China, many older adults are participating in serious leisure activities to enrich their lives (Li, 2021). Our study is a timely response to this phenomenon and proposes a model of serious leisure, subjective well-being, and AA among older Chinese TC participants. The results demonstrated that SWB partially mediates the relationship between serious leisure and AA. Unlike most previous studies, which have focused on only SL and AA, we introduced SWB as a mediator to better understand how AA of Chinese older adults can be achieved through SL. To some extent, this study fills the gap in the academic literature on SL and AA in China and provides Chinese evidence for the existing literature. In addition, our exploration includes the subdimensions of AA to further examine the underlying mechanism of the effects of SL and SWB on AA. The results also verified the partial mediating effect of SWB on the relationships between SL and the four subdimensions of AA, i.e. body vitality, active attitude, interpersonal support, and social participation.

First, consistent with the hypotheses, the findings suggested that SL is likely to influence an individual's SWB with TC, thereby improving the AA of the Chinese older participants. According to China's current aging policy, the key to actively coping with the aging population is to effectively enhance the well-being of older adults (State Council of the People's Republic of China, 2021). Therefore, in this context, we introduced the variable of SWB to examine its impact on the AA of SL participants from a quantitative perspective.

In China, retirement is an important symbol of individual aging and generally means that people begin to withdraw from the society and have more leisure time. For older Chinese TC participants, the spontaneous pursuit of SL is a way to reinvolve themselves in society, which could help them find new social roles after retirement. Furthermore, the older participants could enrich their later life by practicing TC and learning related knowledge and skills. This SL experience would greatly enhance their sense of identity and self-worth. These lasting and profound benefits can improve older participants’ SWB (Cheng et al., 2016; Heo et al., 2018b; Lee and Hwang, 2018) and make them more likely to develop their potential and enrich their later life with a positive attitude and behavior, such as maintaining a healthy lifestyle, actively participating in society and pursuing lifelong learning, which would greatly contribute to AA.

Second, the results demonstrated that SWB partially mediates the relationships between SL and the four subdimensions of AA among Chinese older TC participants, thereby extending the literature by further exploring the relationships among SL, SWB, and AA in detail. SWB refers to an individual's overall evaluation of his or her quality of life (Diener et al., 1999). With the increasing leisure awareness of Chinese people, more and more older adults are participating in leisure activities to promote their quality of life. When older TC participants reach the state of SL, the traditional meditative component of TC is emphasized, and this meditative effect will spread into daily life to make the participants continually feel a sense of calmness and relaxation (Yau and Packer, 2002). Meanwhile, they usually feel a deeper sense of pleasure, satisfaction, and achievement by persevering and expending significant effort (Stebbins, 1982, 1992). These pleasant experiences could greatly improve older adults’ overall well-being (Gregory and Dimmock, 2019; Heo et al., 2018b), thus making them more likely to perceive positive aspects of the aging process. Specifically, they often feel that their bodies are full of vitality, have positive attitudes toward life, feel supported in their interactions with family and friends, and are more willing to participate in social activities.

Third, this study found that the mediating effect of SWB on the relationship between SL and interpersonal support subdimension of AA is relatively large, which indicates that compared with the other subdimensions, the interpersonal support perceived by older TC participants is more strongly affected by increased SWB. In China, most older participants choose to join groups or associations to practice TC to relieve their loneliness. Being a member of the regular team provides many opportunities for senior participants to engage in social interaction. In the process of daily participation, the older adults could share their experiences with each other and develop companionship, thus causing them to feel an increased sense of happiness (Cheng et al., 2016; Yau and Packer, 2002). That is, the higher their SWB, the more willing TC participants are to increase social interactions and expand social networks, which would also enable them to obtain more mutual support and contribute to AA (Lee and Heo, 2020). Therefore, it is reasonable to claim that SL is more focused on affecting the interpersonal support aspect of AA by influencing the SWB of older TC participants.

In addition, among the four subdimensions of AA, older adults’ consistent and systematic participation in TC had a relatively large direct effect on their sense of body vitality. Compared with other types of SL activities, the respondents appeared to understand that serious involvement in sport activities may be more beneficial for improving the physical health status of older participants. TC is used by many Chinese older adults as a form of self-strengthening or health maintenance practice. Previous studies have proven that long-lasting participation in TC can improve posture control, cardiopulmonary function, blood lipid levels, and gait (Li et al., 2012). These improvements can help older adults build new beliefs about their ability to take active control of their health with positive outcomes.

Implications and limitations

Our findings have some implications. First, this study indicates that SL is likely to influence the SWB of older adults participating in TC, thereby improving their AA. The community could appeal to older adults to consistently and systematically participate in TC and cultivate their awareness of SL to promote SWB and AA by conducting publicity and education campaigns and providing leisure guidance at different stages of participation. Furthermore, SWB partially mediates the relationships between SL and the four subdimensions of AA. These findings imply the importance of SWB in the process of achieving AA among Chinese older adults. It is necessary for the government to formulate plans that fully meet the leisure needs of older adults, such as providing them with sufficient and fixed venues and security and organizing more collective activities for them to promote their long-term participation in leisure activities, improve their SWB and contribute to AA.

Several limitations of this study must be mentioned. For example, the respondents were limited to older TC participants in Hangzhou. In the future, the proposed model should be examined with larger diverse samples and various leisure sport activities. In addition, this study used a cross-sectional research design, so we could examine only the relationships among SL, SWB, and AA; future studies could adopt a longitudinal research design to investigate the time ordering of these three factors. Furthermore, this study mainly explored the role of SWB in the relationship between SL and AA, but other variables also impact SL and AA, such as cognitive style, personality, family structure, and demographic variables. Thus, to determine how SL can better improve the AA of older adults, future research should introduce other mediators or variables into the current research model.

Conclusion

Population aging is a prominent phenomenon in China, and participating in serious leisure sports is providing more possibilities for older adults to improve their subjective well-being and achieve AA. This study described the mediating role of SWB in SL and AA among older Chinese TC participants by means of a quantitative investigation. The findings support the claim that long-lasting participation in TC may be an excellent strategy for older adults to improve their SWB and facilitate AA. Supplementing existing studies, the results reveal that seriously participating in TC and increasing SWB can empower older adults to age actively, specifically by helping them maintain their body vitality, foster an active attitude, receive more interpersonal support, and improve their social participation. Given ongoing social developments, studies of AA from the perspective of serious leisure and sports should receive more attention from academia and society.

Footnotes

Author contributions

Methodology, Y.Q. and Y.S.; formal analysis, Y.S.; investigation, J.G.; data curation, Y.S.; writing—original draft preparation, Y.S.; writing—review and editing, Y.Q. and Y.S.; project administration, Y.Q.; funding acquisition, Y.Q. (This work was supported by National Social Science Funding in China under grant number 16BTY077). All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author [Y. J. Qiu] upon reasonable request.

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Project (grant number 23NDJC001Z).

Informed consent

All study participants provided informed consent prior to participation in the study.

ORCID iD

Yajun Qiu

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