BACKGROUND: Previous research has linked adolescents' participation in organised leisure-time activities (OLTAs) to better health and well-being. It remains unclear whether these associations can be observed consistently across social and socioeconomic strata and countries. METHODS: The present study used nine nationally representative samples of adolescents aged 11, 13 and 15 years (total n=55 429) from the 2017/2018 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey from Europe and Canada. Regression models with mixed effects to account for nested nature of data were applied to estimate: (1) the associations of social and socioeconomic factors with OLTA participation; (2) strengths of the associations between breadth and pattern of OLTA participation with health and well-being indicators, after adjustment for the social and socioeconomic factors. RESULTS: Rates of OLTA participation varied by age, sex and country of adolescents. Participants from lower socioeconomic classes and non-nuclear families were less likely to participate in OLTAs across each of the nine countries. Moreover, breadth of OLTA participation was associated with higher well-being independent of socioeconomic status or family structure. All of the participation patterns were associated with higher life satisfaction, but sports (either alone or in combination with a non-sport OLTA) were also associated with fewer psychological complaints and excellent self-rated health. CONCLUSION: Adolescents' engagement in OLTAs was associated with adolescents' subjective well-being regardless of country, age, sex and variance in social and socioeconomic factors. Policies aimed at increasing adolescents' subjective well-being and OLTA participation should focus on adolescents from low socioeconomic classes and non-nuclear families.

Department of Public Health and Primary Care Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Ghent University Ghent Belgium

Department of Public Health Sciences Queen's University Kingston Ontario Canada

Faculty of Health Sciences Department of Environmental Health Jagiellonian University Medical College Krakow Poland

Faculty of Medicine Pavol Jozef Šafárik University Kosice Slovakia

Faculty of Physical Culture Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies Palacký University Olomouc Olomouc Czech Republic

Institute of Public Health Department of Public Health and Epidemiology Riga Stradiņš University Riga Latvia

Olomouc University Social Health Institute Palacký University Olomouc Olomouc Czech Republic

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