Spatial Heterogeneity and Regional Clustering of Factors Influencing Chinese Adolescents’ Physical Fitness

Zihan Tong, Zhenxing Kong, Xiao Jia, Jingjing Yu, Tingting Sun and Yimin Zhang ()
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Zihan Tong: Key Laboratory of Exercise and Physical Fitness, Ministry of Education, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China
Zhenxing Kong: Key Laboratory of Exercise and Physical Fitness, Ministry of Education, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China
Xiao Jia: Key Laboratory of Exercise and Physical Fitness, Ministry of Education, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China
Jingjing Yu: Key Laboratory of Exercise and Physical Fitness, Ministry of Education, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China
Tingting Sun: Key Laboratory of Exercise and Physical Fitness, Ministry of Education, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China
Yimin Zhang: Key Laboratory of Exercise and Physical Fitness, Ministry of Education, Beijing Sport University, Beijing 100084, China

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 5, 1-18

Abstract: There is often significant spatial heterogeneity in the factors influencing physical fitness in adolescents, yet less attention has been paid to this in established studies. Based on the 2018 Chinese National Student Physical Fitness Standard Test data, this study uses a multi-scale, geographically weighted regression (MGWR) model combined with a K-means clustering algorithm to construct a spatial regression model of the factors influencing adolescent physical fitness, and to investigate the degree of spatial variation in the physical fitness of Chinese adolescents from a socio-ecological perspective of health promotion. The following conclusions were drawn: the performance of the youth physical fitness regression model was significantly improved after taking spatial scale and heterogeneity into account. At the provincial scale, the non-farm output, average altitude, and precipitation of each region were strongly related to youth physical fitness, and each influencing factor generally showed a banded spatial heterogeneity pattern, which can be summarized into four types: N–S, E–W, NE–SW, and SE–NW. From the perspective of youth physical fitness, China can be divided into three regions of influence: the socio-economic-influenced region, mainly including the eastern region and some of the central provinces of China; the natural-environment-influenced region, which mainly includes the northwestern part of China and some provinces in the highland region; and the multi-factor joint-influenced region, which mainly includes the provinces in the central and northeastern regions of China. Finally, this study provides syndemic suggestions for physical fitness and health promotion for youths in each region.

Keywords: physical fitness; influencing factors; spatial heterogeneity; regional clustering; K-means; multi-scale geographically weighted regression (MGWR); social–ecological model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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