Physical Activities in Public Squares: The Impact of Companionship on Chinese Residents’ Health

Abstract

Companionship is the most important social support factor in physical activities, but the influence of companionship on the daily physical activities of Chinese people in the square is not clear. The ordered logistic regression was conducted to identify the companionship and physical activities associated with the physical and mental health of residents (n = 196). The results show that companionship has direct and indirect effects on mental health, and companionship acts on physical health through physical activity in public squares. Our research understands the use of public open space (POS) from the perspective of companionship and provides a new perspective for improving the sociality of POS design.

Keywords

• physical activity
• companionship
• social support
• health status