Knowing is Half the Battle: the Association Between Leisure-Time Physical Activity and Quality of Life Among Four Groups with Different Self-Perceived Health Status in Taiwan

Physical activity (PA) is a contributing factor toward an important global issue: quality of life (QoL). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between PA and QoL regarding different self-perceived healthy/unhealthy male and female adults to determine whether self-perception of health status plays an important role for appreciating PA. Data were obtained from the Taiwan Social Change Survey comprising 1643 participants (828 men, 815 women). The mean age was 43.98 years (SD = 14.44). Four hierarchical linear regressions were constructed to explore the unique contribution of PA to QoL in each group. As expected, PA was significantly positively related to QoL; however, the explained variations in terms of R² are quite different: 8.8 % self-perceived unhealthy men and 1.2 % healthy men, 4.1 % unhealthy women and 0.6 % healthy women. Among the four groups, self-perceived healthy females had a lower level of PA and may not have appreciated the effects of PA on QoL. Our results suggest that people who perceive themselves as unhealthy engage in more PA than self-perceived healthy people. Therefore, encouraging self-perceived healthy people to stay alert to maintain their physical health is crucial to QoL.