title: Direct and indirect relationships between physical activity and happiness levels among older adults: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purposes of this study were to examine if physical activity (PA) is associated to happiness and to investigate if social functioning and health status mediate this association.
  
  
  METHODS
  Participants of this cross-sectional study were 323 men and women, age 60 or over, who were covered by the medical insurance of the French National Education System, France. They received by mail a self-report questionnaire that asked for information about general health, PA, and happiness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In multinomial logistic regressions, the total volume of PA was associated to higher levels of happiness, but this association disappeared in the presence of social functioning. A structural equation modelling (SEM) showed an indirect association between PA and happiness, which was mediated by participants' health status and social functioning; in this SEM model, social functioning was the only variable directly associated to happiness.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Complex associations among PA, health status, and social functioning appear to determine happiness levels in older adults.
authors.affiliation: a UMR 7268 ADES , Aix-Marseille Université/EFS/CNRS , Marseille , France.
authors.forename: Philipe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: de Souto Barreto
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: elderly; exercise; mental health; social functioning; well-being