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Description
This study is a cross-sectional telephone interview survey performed in 2005-2006 on an independent probability sample of first-generation Korean immigrants in California. Three separate physical activity outcomes are examined to identify correlates of physical activity and assess the impact of acculturation on physical activity, adjusting for other significant correlates in the three logistic regression models. This analysis was emulated on a seminal work performed on the first wave of another cohort in 2001, and this analysis was performed on the second wave of a different cohort. Physical activity is analyzed by three outcomes, which include reporting any physical activity within the past month, meeting the American Heart Association (AHA) vigorous physical activity guidelines within a usual week, and meeting the AHA walking for exercise guidelines in the past week. The latter two were mutually exclusive outcomes and a "Yes" answer was based on a composite score of having met the AHA guidelines for a healthy lifestyle by exercising vigorously for at least 60 minutes per week or walking 150 minutes per week. 15 potential correlates were analyzed, of which seven were continuous covariates and eight were categorical covariates. The results of this study indicated that only 70.5% of the cohort reported any physical activity within the past month (N=1906), and the correlates of this outcome were identified as an age and acculturation interaction, concern for health, and smoking habits. Furthermore, only 15.2% of the cohort met the AHA guidelines for vigorous physical activity (N=1637), and those correlates were age, acculturation, gender, marital status, concern for health, church attendance, and days drinking per month. Finally, only 23.1% of the cohort met the walking for exercise (N=1586) recommendations by the AHA, and those correlates were an acculturation by gender interaction, an age and marital status interaction, and viewing a friend's opinion as important. Increased acculturation was found to be significantly correlated with meeting the vigorous physical activity guidelines and associated with interaction terms for reporting any physical activity and meeting the AHA walking guidelines. Implications for this study demonstrate that Koreans are far from their "model minority" characterization with respect to physical activity. This study calls for further prospective research focusing on physical activity and the effects of acculturation regarding an individual's ability to make decisions concerning health. The correlates of physical activity presented show some at-risk groups for whom targeted community-based interventions might be effective and include females, younger married couples, and more acculturated males.
