Effects of sports participation on residents’ physical and mental health in the context of active health: evidence from China family panel studies

Abstract Sports is an effective intervention measure for active health. On the basis of data from the 2018–2022 China Family Panel Studies (primarily self-reported or household member-reported data), this research uses baseline regression, mediating effects and moderating effects to explore the impact of sports participation on residents’ physical and mental health. The research revealed the following: (1) Baseline regression: sports participation has a significant positive effect on residents’ physical and mental health; (2) mechanism analysis: sports participation improves residents’ physical and mental health by enhancing social capital; (3) moderating effect: higher household income is conducive to enhancing the positive effect of sport participation on residents’ physical and mental health; (4) heterogeneity analysis: compared with rural residents and middle-aged and young people, sports participation has a stronger promoting effect on the physical and mental health of urban residents and elderly individuals. Compared with the literature, the research findings reveal the multiple health values of sports participation from the novel perspective of active health and provide an empirical basis and theoretical support for the formulation of differentiated health promotion strategies.