Perceived barriers to physical activity in the social spaces of low socioeconomic status suburbs

Abstract

The promotion of physical activity and well-being calls for sociological knowledge of the factors that constrain individual's activities, especially among disadvantaged populations. We investigated perceived barriers to physical activity and their associations with social background factors within the theoretical framework of social space. Survey data (n = 302) were collected from adult residents in two low socioeconomic status city suburbs in Finland and examined using binary logistic regression analysis, multiple correspondence analysis and variance analysis. The most prevalent barriers among adults were low mood, lack of time, health problems and lack of companions. A data-driven classification of the barriers showed that an accumulation of barriers was associated with nondomestic native language, single parenting, age 30–44 years and low household income. Perceiving personal barriers, as opposed to environmental barriers, was characterised by retirement, low household income, low physical activity level and domestic native language. The results support the following deduction: to reduce inequalities in access to physical activity, policies should focus on sports service delivery that aims at the removal of barriers to physical activity, especially social and personal barriers. Deepening this understanding requires not only further development of relevant theory and empirical research into the different social spaces of physical activity but also close dialog with welfare policy decision makers and sports service planners.