How do Spatiotemporally Patterned Everyday Activities Explain Variations in People’s Mental Health?

Everyday activities in space and time have received much research attention in recent years. Geographers are interested in not only the spatial and temporal patterns of people’s everyday activities, but also the implications of such activities for social inequality and health outcomes. This study investigates how individuals’ weekday and weekend mobility and activities are associated with mental health. We argue that everyday activities play an important role in mental health because of the cognitive and affective processes associated with, not to mention the spatiotemporal exposure incurred by, conducting these activities. Data were collected in 2018 from 1,985 respondents living in thirty neighborhoods of Shanghai, China. Path analysis models are developed to establish links between daily activities and mental health, controlling for sociodemographics and residential location. Results show that mental health differs significantly among people not only of different sociodemographic groups, but also with different daily activity patterns. Weekday and weekend activities are found to have different influences on mental health. This research extends the existing literature on mental health by considering the mental health impacts of individuals’ daily activities and travel. The research findings are relevant for developing spatial policy interventions to promote mental health.

近年来, 日常的时空活动得到了广泛的研究。地理学家不仅对日常活动的空间和时间模式感兴趣, 还关注了这些活动对社会不平等和健康的影响。本文研究了个人在工作日和周末的流动性和活动与心理健康的关系。我们认为, 由于认知和情感过程与日常活动的时空暴露有关, 日常活动在心理健康中发挥着重要作用。我们于2018年收集了中国上海30个社区的1985名受访者信息。在控制社会人口统计和居住点的情况下, 本文研制的路径分析模型建立了日常活动和心理健康之间的联系。结果表明, 不同社会人口统计群体和不同日常活动模式群体的心理健康都存在着显著差异。工作日活动和周末活动对心理健康有不同的影响。本文研究了个人日常活动和出行对心理健康的影响, 拓展了现有的心理健康研究。研究结果有助于制定旨在促进心理健康的空间政策干预措施。