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Correlates of Physical Activity Differ by Sex and Country of Birth Among Mexican-Heritage Youth

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Abstract

Barriers to physical activity (PA) may be experienced differently by sex and country of birth. We examine psychosocial correlates of PA in four groups based on sex (boy/girl) and country of birth [Mexico/United States (U.S.)]. 1154 Mexican heritage adolescents residing in Houston, Texas provided psychosocial data in 2008–09 and PA (number of days per week active for at least 60 min) in 2010–11 (N = 1001). Poisson regression models were fitted for each groups. Among boys, English language preference (p US-born  = 0.045, p Mexico-born  = 0.008) and higher subjective social status (p US-born  = 0.002, p Mexico-born  = 0.031) were associated with increased PA. Body image dissatisfaction was associated with decreased PA in Mexico-born girls (p = 0.007). Sensation-seeking tendencies were associated with increased PA among all groups; anxiety was associated with decreased PA among all but U.S.-born boys. Tailoring PA interventions to key sex-specific psychosocial correlates rather than country of birth may enhance efficacy of interventions to increase PA levels among Mexican heritage adolescents.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the field staff for their on-going work with participant recruitment and follow-up. Most importantly, we thank our study participants and their parents for their cooperation and participation, without which this research would not be possible.

Funding

This research is supported by the National Cancer Institute grants [CA105203 to MRS, CA126988 to AVW]. The Mexican–American Cohort receives funds collected pursuant to the Comprehensive Tobacco Settlement of 1998 and appropriated by the 76th legislature to The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center; from the Caroline W. Law Fund for Cancer Prevention, and the Dan Duncan Family Institute for Risk Assessment and Cancer Prevention. The funders did not contribute to the design and conduct of the study, the data collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data, the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. Erline E. Miller

    Present address: Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Michael and Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, The University of Texas School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus, 1616 Guadalupe St., Suite 6.300, Austin, TX, 78701, USA

    Anna V. Wilkinson & Erline E. Miller

  2. National Human Genome Research Institute, US National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Laura M. Koehly

  3. Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA

    Carrie R. Daniel

  4. School of Human Ecology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Michele R. Forman

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  1. Anna V. Wilkinson
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  2. Erline E. Miller
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  4. Carrie R. Daniel
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Correspondence to Anna V. Wilkinson.

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Wilkinson, A.V., Miller, E.E., Koehly, L.M. et al. Correlates of Physical Activity Differ by Sex and Country of Birth Among Mexican-Heritage Youth. J Immigrant Minority Health 19, 246–253 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-016-0451-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-016-0451-x

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