TITLE:
Perceived Health, Physical Activity and Sport among the Elderly of Spain
AUTHORS:
Rafael Serrano-del-Rosal, Lourdes Biedma-Velázquez, David Moscoso-Sánchez, María Martín-Rodríguez
KEYWORDS:
Perceived Health; Physical Activity; Sport; Elderly
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Applied Sociology,
Vol.3 No.2,
June
14,
2013
ABSTRACT: Purpose: It determines if participating in sports
and/or physical activity influences perceived health among the elderly. Basic
procedures: Data were drawn
from a population subsample of subjects aged 65 - 79
years old that took part in a survey conducted in 2008 by the IESA-CSIC. A
regression model was performed with perceived health status with the dependent
variable and sociodemographic characteristics and physical activity as
independent variables. Results: Physical activity is closely associated to perceived health, although sport has
little influence on this relationship. Conclusions: Doing exercise or feeling that one is physically active makes the elderly
feel better about their health status. However, this age group practises few
sports and sport is not found to have an important or constant influence on
self-perceived health status among the elderly.