Obesity has become a common chronic disease in many countries around the world. People with obesity, as a minority, deserve more social attention. Currently, there are few studies on the health level of people with obesity from the perspective of social influencing factors. This study examines the effects of the frequency of physical exercise and frequency of use of different media types on the level of physical and mental health in people with obesity. In addition, we explore the mediating effect of physical exercise frequency on the relationship between online media use frequency and the mental health of people with obesity. The participants are 882 patients with obesity from the 2017 China General Social Survey (CGSS). The results show that: (1) Online media use was a possible positive predictor of physical health improvement among people with obesity. (2) Physical exercise was a possible positive predictor of mental health improvement among people with obesity. (3) Physical exercise played an entirely mediating role between online media use and mental health. The study is conducive to understanding the relationship and mediating mechanism between physical exercise, media use, and physical and mental health in people with obesity. The results of this study can provide suggestions for improving the health and well-being of people with obesity. Future research could explore more aspects of physical activity (e.g., the methods for physical exercise) and media use (e.g., media preference or compulsive use). More variables can be included in the study of influencing factors of the physical and mental health of people with obesity.
Keywords: media use; mental health; obesity; physical exercise; physical health.