Physical activities among Korean midlife immigrant women in the U.S.

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships among individual characteristics (age, acculturation, income, education, and marital status), cognition and affect (exercise self-efficacy, perceived barriers/benefits, and social support for exercise), and physical activity (total activity, household/caring activity, occupational activity, daily active living habits, and sports/exercise activity) among Korean midlife immigrant women. A healthpromotion model of physical activity was adapted from Pender’s Health Promotion Model to guide this study. A non-probability sample of 121 Korean midlife immigrants was recruited by flyers in Korean communities in Central Texas. Bivariate correlations and a series of regression analyses were conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 12.0. According to the findings, acculturation was not significantly related to physical activity. Level of education was significantly and negatively related to occupational activity and positively related to sports/exercise activity. Married women reported more activity in sports/exercise than those who were not currently married. As observed in previous research, cognition and affect (higher self-efficacy, lower perceived barriers, higher perceived benefits, and higher social support) were significantly related to higher levels of physical activity. There are three mediation effects of cognition/affect in the relationship between marital status (whether married or not) and sports/exercise activity. Marital status was significantly related to sports/exercise activity, but when perceived benefits and total social support were controlled in separate analyses, the variance in sports/exercise activity explained by marital status decreased each time. When spouse support was controlled in regressing sports/exercise activity on marital status, marital status did not explain any variation of the dependent variable, which is a condition for a mediation effect. This study adds to our knowledge about physical activity among Korean immigrant midlife women. Acculturation did not play an important role in the women’s involvement in physical activity. Nevertheless, the study provides meaningful information in a research area that few other studies have addressed. Among individual characteristics, income and marital status were significantly related to cognition and affect and sports/exercise activity. In addition, the relationships between cognition and affect and sports/exercise activity supported the health-promotion model of physical activity.