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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1470624
This article is part of the Research Topic Alternative and Complementary Therapies to Promote Mental Health and Wellbeing for Older Adults - Volume II View all 5 articles

The relationship between square dance exercise and quality of life in middle-aged and older adults: chain mediated effects of negative emotions and attitudes toward aging

Provisionally accepted
Ting Ouyang Ting Ouyang 1,2Yujia Qu Yujia Qu 1Xinyu Du Xinyu Du 3*Ming Fan Ming Fan 1*Yan Wang Yan Wang 1*
  • 1 School of Art, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China
  • 2 Department of Sports, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China
  • 3 Department of Sports, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: With the continuous development of society and the economy, population aging has become an inevitable global development trend, triggering a series of social problems of middle-aged and older adults. Physical exercise is one of the key factors for improving the overall health and quality of life of individuals, but the role of square dance exercise and the quality of life of middle-aged and older adults have not yet been clarified.Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the associations between square dance exercise and the quality of life of middle-aged and older adults and its mechanism of action, including its effects on physical health and mental health, with negative emotions and aging attitudes as mediating variables.Method: This study adopted a cross-sectional research method, using the Physical Activity Rating Scale (PARS-3), Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale (DASS-21), Attitudes toward Aging Questionnaire (AAQ), and 12-item Short Form of the Health Survey (SF-12), and launched an online survey on the QuestionStar platform from August–September 2023 for 4,636 middle and older adults . The survey results were analyzed via Pearson correlation analysis via SPSS 27.0 and structural equation modeling analysis via Mplus 8.3 to test the model fit and mediation effects.Results: Square dance exercise was significantly correlated with negative emotions, aging attitudes, and quality of life (r=-0.042--0.878, p<.01). Square dance exercise significantly and positively predicted quality of life (β= 0. 202, p<.001). Negative emotions and aging attitudes are chain mediators of square dance exercise and quality of life, and the mediation consists of three pathways: separate mediation of negative emotions, separate mediation of aging attitudes, and chain mediation of negative emotions-aging attitudes.Conclusions: This study is dedicated to deepening the scientific role of how square dancing, as a health-promoting activity, can optimize the quality of life of middle-aged and older adults through the mediating mechanism of negative emotion alleviation and positive aging attitudes. This process not only enriches the theoretical framework of the complex interactions between psychosocial factors and healthy aging but also provides a solid empirical foundation for the development of health aimed at enhancing the overall well-being and quality of life of the middle-aged and older adults.

    Keywords: Square dance exercise, Quality of Life, Negative emotions, attitudes toward aging, Middle-aged and older adults

    Received: 25 Jul 2024; Accepted: 10 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ouyang, Qu, Du, Fan and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Xinyu Du, Department of Sports, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, China
    Ming Fan, School of Art, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, 100084, China
    Yan Wang, School of Art, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, 100084, China

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