Comparing Subjective Well-Being and Levels of Participation among Urban Hikers in China

Increasing participation in outdoor physical activities among urban residents represents a major trend in China. Dalian Walking Festival (DWF, thereafter) is an annual two-day hiking event held on the third weekend of May since 2003 in Dalian. DWF is sponsored by Dalian city government and co-sponsored by Dalian Walking Association. The goal of this sport event is to foster health and peace for the whole community. The purpose of this study was to investigate and compare the subjective well-being of participation among urban hikers in the DWF. The research questions that guided the study were: 1) what are the differences among various groups of participants? 2) Is there any connection between subjective well-being and the participation of different groups in the DWF? A questionnaire was sent to 400 randomly selected DWF participants at 8 communities in Dalian on 17 November, 2012, and 313 completed valid questionnaires were collected, representing a response rate of 78.25%. Subjective well-being was strongly correlated with levels of participation. Consistent with the literature, higher level participants reported higher subjective well-being. This finding is important for researchers as well as for residents, sports related none-government organizations and governments in China.