Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health

, Volume 10, Issue 1, pp 53–65 | Cite as

Demography of Exercise among Californians of Korean Descent: A Cross-Sectional Telephone Survey

  • C. Richard Hofstetter
  • Veronica Irvin
  • Katy Schmitz
  • Melbourne F. Hovell
  • Jeanne Nichols
  • Hye Ryun Kim
  • Richard Ledet
  • Joy Zakarian
  • Haeryun Park
  • Hee-Young Paik
  • Jooeun Lee
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

This study describes aerobic exercise and walking for exercise behaviors among the Korean American population, a rapidly growing minority. Data for this study were drawn from a representative survey of Californians of Korean descent (N = 2,830) conducted by telephone; 86% of eligible participants completed interviews in either Korean or English. Sample characteristics closely approximated those for Koreans in the 2000 United States Census for California. The data show that 32.8% of Koreans vigorously exercise or walk for exercise, but walking regimens and more vigorous modes of exercise are employed by different subgroups. Women, less acculturated, married persons, and less well educated are particularly low in vigorous exercise. Korean Americans walk for exercise much less than majority groups, although they engage in vigorous physical activity on a roughly equivalent basis. Interventions to promote physical activity should be adapted not only for the Korean culture but also for specific subgroups defined demographically.

Keywords

Vigorous exercise Walking Acculturation Korean 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge support from the Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (grant 9RT-0073 to C. Richard Hofstetter) and thank the 2830 Korean study participants for their help in conducting the original study. We also wish to thank the anonymous referee for this journal whose many comments greatly improved the manuscript.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Authors and Affiliations

  • C. Richard Hofstetter
    • 1
  • Veronica Irvin
    • 2
  • Katy Schmitz
    • 2
  • Melbourne F. Hovell
    • 2
  • Jeanne Nichols
    • 3
  • Hye Ryun Kim
    • 4
  • Richard Ledet
    • 5
  • Joy Zakarian
    • 2
  • Haeryun Park
    • 6
  • Hee-Young Paik
    • 7
  • Jooeun Lee
    • 8
  1. 1.Department of Political Science and the Graduate School of Public Health, Center for Behavioral Epidemiology and Community HealthSan Diego State UniversitySan DiegoUSA
  2. 2.Center for Behavioral Epidemiology and Community Health (CBEACH), Graduate School of Public HealthSan Diego State UniversitySan DiegoUSA
  3. 3.Department of Exercise & Nutrition SciencesSan Diego State UniversitySan DiegoUSA
  4. 4.Department of Health ResearchKorea Institute for Health and Social AffairsSeoulRepublic of Korea
  5. 5.Department of Political ScienceUniversity of Notre DameNotre DameUSA
  6. 6.Department of Food and NutritionMyongji UniversitySeoulRepublic of Korea
  7. 7.Department of Food and NutritionSeoul National UniversitySeoulRepublic of Korea
  8. 8.School of Public HealthHarvard UniversityBostonUSA

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