AUTHOR=Xie Shanshan , Li Na , Guo Wenxia 

TITLE=The impact of family endowment on adolescents’ physical activity behavior

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1589515

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2025.1589515

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=ObjectiveThe cultivation of adolescent lifelong development is significantly influenced by family education, yet current approaches to physical activity promotion reveal critical systemic deficiencies. Family sports education remains underprioritized, while school-based physical education programs demonstrate diminishing efficacy. This situation is exacerbated by the absence of collaborative frameworks integrating community sports resources, collectively contributing to suboptimal sports participation rates among Chinese youth. Given the critical role of family resources in enhancing adolescent physical fitness outcomes, this study aims to: (1) identify key family capital dimensions influencing youth sports engagement; (2) examine the practical requirements for family-oriented sports initiatives; and (3) propose evidence-based strategies to address the multifaceted physical fitness challenges confronting Chinese adolescents.MethodsA random cluster sampling method was used to select 9 cities from the 17 cities in Shandong Province as the survey objects, and the two-class and ordered multi-class Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the influence of family endowment on adolescents’ physical fitness behavior.Results(1) The results of binary logistic regression analysis showed that the mother’s higher education level was more conducive to the formation of adolescents’ physical fitness behavior; the health of fathers affects adolescents’ physical fitness behaviors; the annual family income of “11–20 Ten thousand” has a significant impact on whether to participate in physical fitness, other groups have no statistical difference; the number of relatives and friends except for the “1–3” group, other groups have significant difference; “3–5″ and “6 or more” in the quality of the relationship network are all influencing factors of adolescents’ physical fitness behavior; there was no statistical difference in the influence of family activity space and family debt level on adolescents’ physical fitness behavior. (2) The results of multivariate ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that the educational level of mothers promoted the physical fitness needs of adolescents, the increase of family activity space promoted the physical fitness needs of adolescents, and the improvement of family income level also contributed to the physical fitness of adolescents. The promoting factors of fitness behavior, and the number of relatives and friends and the quality of the relationship network affect the physical fitness behavior of adolescents, and the differences are statistically significant.ConclusionFamily endowment positively impacts adolescents’ physical fitness behaviors, with human, natural, economic, and social capital all influencing their sports participation. Establishing a family-focused sports environment and a robust social support system is essential. Moreover, special attention is needed for adolescents with low parental education levels in order to improve family fitness awareness and behaviors.