The Association between Gender and Physical Activity Was Partially Mediated by Social Network Size during COVID-19

Ashley Kuzmik, Yin Liu, Yendelela Cuffee, Lan Kong, Christopher N. Sciamanna and Liza S. Rovniak
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Ashley Kuzmik: College of Nursing, Pennsylvania State University, 306 Nursing Sciences Building, University Park, Philadelphia, PA 16802, USA
Yin Liu: Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, Utah State University, 2905 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84322, USA
Yendelela Cuffee: College of Health Sciences, University of Delaware, 100 Discovery Boulevard, Newark, DE 19713, USA
Lan Kong: Departments of Medicine and Public Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA 17033, USA
Christopher N. Sciamanna: Departments of Medicine and Public Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA 17033, USA
Liza S. Rovniak: Departments of Medicine and Public Health Sciences, College of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA 17033, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 5, 1-13

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted physical activity, particularly among women. Limited research has explored how social network support may explain gender-based variations in physical activity during COVID-19. The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of social networks in the association between gender and physical activity during a pandemic. This cross-sectional survey assessed whether social network characteristics (i.e., in-person social network size, frequency of in-person social network interactions, and online friend network size) mediate the relationship between gender and either past-week or past-year physical activity. Multiple mediation analyses were conducted to determine the indirect effect of gender on physical activity through social networks. Among 205 participants, women (n = 129) were significantly less physically active (β = −73.82; p = 0.02) than men (n = 76) and reported significantly more Facebook friends (β = 0.30; p < 0.001) than men, which was inversely associated with past-week physical activity (β = −64.49; p = 0.03). Additionally, the indirect effect of gender on past-week physical activity through Facebook friends was significant (β = −19.13; 95% CI [−40.45, −2.09]). Findings suggest that social media sites such as Facebook could be used to encourage physical activity among women during a pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; women’s health; physical activity; social networks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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