Associations between activities of daily living, leisure activities and subjective well‐being in Chinese older adults

Objectives The study aimed to explore the internal pathway of the association between activities of daily living and subjective well‐being among Chinese older adults using a large and representative sample. Background There is still a lack of systematic investigation into the association between activities of daily living and subjective well‐being among Chinese older adults. Materials and methods The study included 10 578 participants from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. We applied multiple linear regression analysis and Spearman correlation analysis to examine the association between activities of daily living and subjective well‐being and PROCESS macro to determine the mediating effect of leisure activities on the relationship between them. Results The mean total score of subjective well‐being was 30.5 ± 4.4. The prevalence of basic activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living limitations was 18.0% and 60.8%, respectively. Correlation analysis showed that activities of daily living score were negatively correlated with subjective well‐being. Leisure activities were positively correlated with subjective well‐being. The effect of instrumental activities of daily living on subjective well‐being was partially mediated by leisure activities and leisure activities completely mediated the association between basic activities of daily living and subjective well‐being. Conclusions The effect of instrumental activities of daily living on subjective well‐being was partially mediated by leisure activities and leisure activities completely mediated the association between basic activities of daily living and subjective well‐being.