BeeWell to Be Active? Longitudinal Evidence on the Reciprocal Relationship Between Life Satisfaction and Physical Activity in Adolescence

Evidence on the bidirectional relationship between physical activity and life satisfaction in adolescence is limited, particularly compared with work on mental health symptoms. Using three waves of longitudinal #BeeWell survey data, this study therefore assessed this relationship among young people aged 12–15 years in Greater Manchester ( n = 28,235; 49.9% boys, 49.8% girls; 0.4% missing). Pre-registered dual change score models were fitted to assess reciprocal relationships between average hours of physical activity per week and life satisfaction, separately by sex. Models adjusted for socioeconomic deprivation, free school meal eligibility, special educational needs and ethnicity. A positive cross-domain relationship between physical activity and life satisfaction was predicted, which could then be used to calculate a positive monetary value using wellbeing-adjusted life years (WELLBYs). However, results indicated that there was no longitudinal effect of physical activity on subsequent life satisfaction and therefore, WELLBYs were not calculated. In contrast, higher life satisfaction predicted increases in physical activity at the next wave, with a one-standard-deviation increase in life satisfaction associated with about 2.5 more hours of weekly physical activity. Minor negative autoregressive effects were observed for physical activity. Although model comparisons suggested possible sex differences, coupling estimates were not statistically significant. These findings underscore the role of life satisfaction as a precursor to physical activity in early-to-mid adolescence, with implications for intervention design. The findings also inform policy appraisal by indicating that wellbeing-led strategies may be a plausible route to increasing physical activity, while assumptions that physical activity causally improves life satisfaction over annual intervals in early adolescence may be overstated.