China is one of the countries with the most serious aging problem. Although intergenerational activities are evident to benefit older adults’ wellbeing, the co-participation in physical activity (Co-PA) with grandchildren and its relationships with psychosocial outcomes in older people has been rarely reported under the Chinese context. This study investigated the level of different types of Co-PA with grandchildren among older adults aged 60 years or above and the associations between Co-PA levels and loneliness, attitudes toward aging, and family harmony. This is a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey conducted between August and October 2024 in Shenzhen, China. Participants of the original survey were residents aged ≥ 60 years with administrative health records in community health centers. Multistage random sampling was used. Ten community health centers were first randomly selected. Each selected community center then randomly selected 200 administrative health records of residents aged ≥ 60 years. A sub-sample of 1,293 participants with at least one grandchild aged < 18 years were included in the analysis. Multilevel (level 1: individual participants; level 2: community health centers) multivariable linear regression models were fitted. The proportion of participants who performed the following Co-PA with grandchildren at least once per week was 69.7% for walking and cycling in the free time, 48.6% for playing sports, 46.3% for going to park, playground or beach, 41.8% for going to indoor recreational centre, and 35.4% for participating in sports competitions. Higher frequency of performing the aforementioned types of Co-PA and any type of Co-PA were associated with more positive attitudes toward aging (adjusted β: 0.98 to 1.47, all p < 0.001) and better family harmony (adjusted β: 0.27 to 0.56, all p < 0.001). However, the association between Co-PA and loneliness was non-significant. This study supports that intergenerational Co-PA may serve as a new strategy for promoting healthy aging in Chinese older people. Future efforts may be put on development of proper Co-PA programs, which may benefit both elders and children. Not applicable.
Chen et al. (Tue,) studied this question.