Downward_Ms_EJSS_Accepted.pdf (154.58 kB)
Does regional disadvantage affect health-related sport and physical activity level? A multi-level analysis of individual behaviour
journal contribution
posted on 2017-09-05, 13:41 authored by Pamela Wicker, Paul DownwardPaul Downward, Fernando Lera-LopezThis study examines the role of regional government quality in health-related participation in sport and physical activity among adults (18-64 years) in 28 European countries. The importance of the analysis rests in the relative autonomy that regional (and local) governments have over policy decisions connected with sport and physical activity. While existing studies have focused on economic and infrastructural investment and expenditure, this research investigates the quality of regional governments across 208 regions within 28 European countries. The individual-level data stem from the 2013 Eurobarometer 80.2 (n=18,675) and were combined with regional-level data from Eurostat. An individual’s level of participation in sport and physical activity was measured by three variables reflecting whether an individual’s activity level is below, meets, or exceeds the recommendations of the World Health Organization. The results of multi-level analyses reveal that regional government quality has a significant and positive association with individual participation in sport and physical activity at a level meeting or exceeding the guidelines. The impact is much larger than that of regional gross domestic product per capita, indicating that regional disadvantage in terms of political quality is more relevant than being disadvantaged in terms of economic wealth.
History
School
- Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
Europeam Journal of Sport ScienceVolume
17Issue
10Pages
1350-1359Citation
WICKER, P, DOWNWARD, P.M. and LERA-LOPEZ. F., 2017. Does regional disadvantage affect health-related sport and physical activity level? A multi-level analysis of individual behaviour. European Journal of Sport Science, 17 (10), pp. 1350-1359.Publisher
Taylor and Francis © European College of Sport ScienceVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Publisher statement
This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Acceptance date
2017-08-30Publication date
2017-09-21Notes
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in European Journal of Sport Science on 21 September 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/17461391.2017.1376119.ISSN
1746-1391eISSN
1536-7290Publisher version
Language
- en