Behavioral Bridges to Health and Well-being: How Physical Activity Precedes Religious Participation in Mediating the Effects of Socioeconomic Status

Background China's rapid socio-economic transformation has intensified social stratification and resource inequality, creating disparities in health outcomes and subjective well-being across different socioeconomic strata. While existing research has established the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and health outcomes, the behavioral mechanisms through which SES influences subjective health and happiness remain underexplored, particularly in the Chinese cultural context where physical activity and religious participation exhibit unique characteristics. Methods This study utilized nationally representative survey data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) and employed Generalized Structural Equation Modeling (GSEM) to examine the relationships among SES indicators (educational attainment, income, occupational prestige), lifestyle mediators (physical activity and religious participation), and outcome variables (subjective health and well-being). Conditional Mixed Process (CMP) Probit regression was conducted as a robustness check. The analysis controlled for demographic variables including gender, age, marital status, and regional factors. Results Educational attainment demonstrated the strongest positive associations with both subjective health and well-being, with college-educated individuals showing total associations of 1.046 for health and 1.294 for well-being. Physical activity emerged as a significant positive mediator, accounting for 60.9% and 46.4% of the total associations of junior high education with health and happiness, respectively. However, given the cross-sectional nature of this study, these findings represent associations rather than causal effects.For individuals with higher education, the mediation proportions reached 68.4% and 49.5%. Income showed consistent positive associations with both outcomes, with mediation effects of 32.9% for health and 44.5% for well-being. Occupational prestige exhibited complex patterns with mixed effects across equations. Contrary to Western findings, religious participation showed no significant positive effects on subjective health or well-being, reflecting the unique secular context of contemporary China. Gender differences revealed that females reported lower subjective health but higher happiness levels. Regional variations indicated that residents in Eastern and Central regions demonstrated different patterns of religious and physical activity participation compared to Western regions. Conclusions The study confirms that SES significantly influences subjective health and well-being through both direct pathways and behavioral mediators, with physical activity serving as a crucial transmission mechanism while religious participation lacks significant mediating effects in the Chinese context. These findings suggest that public health policies should prioritize improving access to physical activity opportunities across different socioeconomic strata while recognizing the limited role of religious engagement in promoting population well-being in secular societies.