| The purpose of this study was to identify the physical activity behavior (leisure-time, household, job-related, and transportation-related) and to examine the relationships between physical activity behavior and the correlates of physical activity including acculturation as well as environmental resource, social support, and cognition (self-efficacy, decisional balance) in 200 adult Korean immigrant women aged 20--64. Although the health benefits of physical activity are well established, the current physical activity level of the U.S. public, particularly for ethnic minority and immigrant women, does not reach the Healthy People 2010 goals. There are few studies of physical activity and its correlates for Asian American women and none include Koreans. A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was used. Korean ethnic church-based recruitment was the primary means of accessing this population. Physical activity was measured with the long form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Acculturation was measures with proxy measures (language, years of residence in the U.S., age at immigration) and the Vancouver Index of Acculturation. McAuley's Barriers Self-Efficacy measure and Marcus' Decisional Balance measure provided measures of cognition. The mean age of the participants was 41 years, 84.5% were married, and 71% had a college degree or higher. In general, the women were not physically active in their leisure-time, but most of them were physically active when other domains of physical activity were examined together. A path analysis showed that years of residence in the U.S., self-efficacy, and decisional balance had direct positive effects, and number of children under 5 years had a direct negative effect on leisure-time physical activity. Age and American acculturation had indirect positive effects through self-efficacy while depression had an indirect negative effect through decisional balance on leisure-time physical activity. A total of 14% of the variance in leisure-time physical activity was explained. The findings showed that acculturation is an important correlate of leisure-time physical activity among Korean immigrant women. In addition, self-efficacy and decisional balance were essential cognitive correlates of leisure-time physical activity and they played mediating roles. Findings provide direction for developing targeted physical activity interventions for Korean immigrant women based on their self-efficacy, decisional balance, and acculturation. |
