The influence of leisure patterns on the subjective well-being of the floating population—A social integration perspective

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper uses microdata from the 2017 China Time Use Survey (CTUS) to study the impact of leisure patterns on the subjective well-being of the floating population. We find that latent profile analysis (LPA) divides the leisure time allocation patterns of the Chinese floating population into five types: self-entertainment type, family-friendly type, sports fitness type, social-entertainment type and cultural-artistic type. The empirical results show that the sports fitness type and the cultural-artistic leisure type are the most conducive to the improvement of the subjective well-being of the floating population, followed by the social-entertainment type and the family-friendly type, whereas the self-entertainment type does not contribute to the improvement of subjective well-being. The analysis of the mechanism of action shows that social integration is the mediating variable of the leisure patterns promoting the subjective well-being of the floating population. The conclusion has implications for urban managers to better help the floating population in China integrate into the new environment and improve their quality of life.