Health behaviors, physical activity, and subjective well-being: rural-urban inequities among double first-class university graduate students in China.

Authors

Linqing Li, Guohua Zheng

Published in

Frontiers in public health. Volume 14. Pages 1874749. Epub Jul 21, 2026.

Abstract

Graduate student well-being is an emerging public health priority, yet the role of pre-university structural background, particularly rural versus urban origin, remains poorly understood. This study examined whether rural-urban disparities in life satisfaction persist among students at an elite Chinese university, and to what extent health behaviors account for any observed gap.
In a cross-sectional survey, 497 master's and doctoral students at a Double First-Class university in eastern China completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the IPAQ short-form physical activity questionnaire, and items on insomnia, sleep duration, and sociodemographic characteristics, including monthly disposable income. Two hierarchical linear regression models were constructed: Model 1 (sociodemographic variables only) and Model 2 (adding sleep, physical activity, and insomnia). Because Model 1 is a proper subset of Model 2, the attenuation of the rural-origin coefficient between model estimates the share of the gap associated with health behaviors.
After adjustment for sociodemographic covariates, rural-origin students scored 1.95 points lower on the SWLS than urban-origin peers (Model 1, p = 0.003). Adding health behaviors to the model reduced this gap by roughly half (p = 0.088). Insomnia showed a pronounced graded association with life satisfaction (p < 0.001). Physical activity and sleep duration (p < 0.001) were independently associated with higher SWLS. Being in a relationship or married was also associated with greater well-being.
Health behaviors accounted for approximately half of the rural-urban gap in life satisfaction. The other half persisted independently, suggesting that structural disadvantage exerts effects on well-being that are not reducible to individual health practices. Campus interventions targeting sleep and physical activity are warranted, but closing the remainder of the gap will likely require strategies that address the cultural and institutional dimensions of rural-to-urban educational mobility.

PMID:
42553342
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 05 Aug 2026.

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