Associations Between Leisure Activity Types, Self‐Rated Health, and Happiness

ABSTRACT

This study looks at how leisure activity types are associated with self‐rated health (SRH) and happiness. The 88 detailed leisure activity items in the KNLAS codebook were classified into eight leisure activity types; type‐specific participation indices were constructed. Hobbies and entertainment showed the strongest positive association with SRH, followed by sports viewing, tourism, social and other activities, arts and cultural attendance, and sports participation; the rest showed a negative association except for arts and cultural participation that was not statistically significant. For happiness, sports participation showed the strongest positive association, followed by social and other activities, arts and cultural attendance, tourism, and hobbies and entertainment; arts and cultural participation and the rest showed negative associations, while sports viewing was not statistically significant. These findings indicate that leisure activity types display different association profiles across health‐related and affective well‐being outcomes.