The Preventive Effect of Outdoor Recreational Fishing on Anxiety Disorder

Background: Anxiety disorder, a severe global public health problem, has caused many adverse effects. Effectively preventing anxiety disorder is very important. This paper chose recreational fishing as an intervention measure to explore its effect on preventing anxiety disorder. Methods: The prevention effect of recreational fishing on anxiety disorder and the heterogeneity of this effect were analyzed through the ordinal logistic regression model. The robustness of the main results was tested through the multiple linear regression models. Results: “Fishing” significantly affected the anxiety level of residents. Compared with those who did not participate in outdoor recreational fishing, for those who participated there is a 3.494 decrease in the log odds of being in a higher severity of the anxiety level. With the increase in age, the negative effect of recreational fishing on anxiety levels was significantly lower. Conclusion: We focused on the preventive effect of outdoor recreational fishing on anxiety, contributing to add some evidence for non-medical measures to prevent anxiety disorder. Participation in outdoor recreational fishing has a significant prevention effect on anxiety disorder. Older people have less effect in preventing anxiety disorder by participating in fishing.