Few studies have investigated how transportation-related bicycling might contribute to better mental health. We investigated the effects of utilitarian bicycling frequency on psychological distress and life satisfaction, and explored the possible causal mechanisms, using large and state-wide representative survey data from Victoria, Australia. Propensity score methods were applied to balance treatment and control groups, effectively reducing the selection bias that potentially confounds the causal effects. This study finds that occasional bicycling was not significantly associated with mental health, while regular bicycling was negatively associated with psychological distress and positively associated with life satisfaction. This study also finds that physical activity levels, physical health conditions, and neighborhood physical environment do not fully mediate the effects of utilitarian bicycling on mental wellbeing. These findings support the policies of promoting transportation bicycling to improve population mental health, and highlight the potential role of regular bicycling in combating psychological distress and improving life satisfaction.

很少有研究调查与交通有关的骑自行车如何有助于改善心理健康。我们调查了功利性骑车频率对心理困扰和生活满意度的影响，并使用了来自澳大利亚维多利亚州的大型全州代表性调查数据，探讨了可能的因果机制。倾向得分方法应用于平衡治疗组和对照组，有效降低了可能混淆因果关系的选择偏见。这项研究发现，偶尔骑自行车与心理健康没有显着相关，而定期骑自行车与心理困扰呈负相关，与生活满意度呈正相关。这项研究还发现，体育锻炼水平，身体健康状况，以及邻里的物理环境无法完全调节功利性骑自行车对心理健康的影响。这些发现支持了促进交通骑行以改善人口心理健康的政策，并强调了常规骑行在对抗心理困扰和改善生活满意度方面的潜在作用。