Testing direct and indirect effects of sports participation on perceived health in Spanish adolescents between 15 and 18 years of age

This paper examines the direct and indirect effects of sports participation on perceived health. It is based on a representative sample of middle adolescents aged 15–18 (N=1038, M age=16.31, s.d.=0.92; 510 boys and 528 girls) from the Valencian Community (Spain). This study used two different models; Model A is an adaptation of Thorlindsson, Vilhjalmsson and Valgeirssonʹs (Social Science and Medicine 31 (1990) 551) model which introduces smoking, alcohol use, feelings of anxiety, feelings of depression and psychophysiological symptoms as mediator variables; Model B is an extension of Model A with perceived physical fitness as an added mediator variable. Both models show a good fit to the data. Results showed that, in both models, sports participation affected perceived health directly and indirectly by decreasing smoking and alcohol consumption, feelings of depression and psychophysiological symptoms. In Model B, sport also affected perceived health via increased perceived physical fitness explaining almost 10% more of the variance.