title: Leisure-time activities and psychological distress in a suburban community in Japan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is a wide range of leisure-time activities and previous research indicates that some of these are associated with lower psychological distress. The aim of this study was to assess whether leisure-time activities were associated with psychological distress.
  
  
  METHODS
  A population-based questionnaire survey was conducted in 2009 in a suburban area of northern Japan using complete enumeration. Of 16,996 residents aged 30-79 years who received the questionnaire, 14,261 (83.9%) responded and 9908 (58.3%) responses were eligible for analysis. The relationship between psychological distress and physical, artistic, outdoor, and volunteer leisure-time activities was assessed separately and simultaneously by sex.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The percentage of reported psychological distress was 2.8% for men and 3.9% for women. Each category of leisure-time activity was related to psychological distress separately. The simultaneous analyses revealed that engaging in regular outdoor leisure activity was associated with less psychological distress in both men (odds ratio [OR] = 0.38; 95% confidence intervals [CI]: 0.23, 0.63, p < 0.001) and women (OR = 0.39; 95% CI: 0.25, 0.59, p < 0.001). Engaging in regular physical activity was associated with less psychological distress in women (OR = 0.09; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.68, p = 0.019). Volunteer work and art activities were not associated with psychological distress in either men or women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Greater engagement in outdoor leisure activity and physical activity was significantly associated with a lower likelihood of psychological distress. The results from the present study indicate that engaging in leisure-time activities, especially in outdoor leisure and physical activities, may be an effective means of promoting public health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Akita University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1-1 Hondo, Akita 010-8543, Japan; Akita Prefectural Daisen Health Center, 13-62 Omagari Kamisakae-cho, Daisen, Akita 014-0062, Japan.
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Toyoshima
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Akita University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1-1 Hondo, Akita 010-8543, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.affiliation: Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, 465 Kajii-cho, Hirokoji Agaru, Kawaramachi-dori, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto 602-0841, Japan.
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Motohashi
keywords: Community dwellers; Leisure-time activity; Psychological distress