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Life Events and Changing Physical Activity Patterns in Women at Different Life Stages

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Background

The impact of life events on physical activity (PA) is little understood.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine relationships between specific life events and changes in PA in three cohorts of Australian women.

Methods

Young (N = 7,173; age 22–27 years), mid-age (N = 8,762; 51–56 years), and older (N = 6,660; 73–78 years) participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health completed surveys on two occasions, 3 years apart.

Results

About one third of the young and mid-age women and one quarter of the older women were “active” at both times. Decreasing PA was associated with marriage and childbirth in young women and with declining health in older women. Increasing PA was associated with retirement and death of spouse in the mid-age women. Stressful events such as divorce, harassment at work, and violence were also associated with changing PA.

Conclusions

There were significant associations between age-specific life events and PA changes. Understanding these relationships could inform interventions for preventing declines in activity at specific life stages.

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Acknowledgements

The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, which was conceived and developed by groups of interdisciplinary researchers at the Universities of Newcastle and Queensland, is funded by the Commonwealth of Australia Government Department of Health and Ageing. We thank all participants for their valuable contribution to this project. These analyses were supported in part by funding from the Australian Government Department of Family and Community Services (Office for Women). Dr. Heesch was supported by NHMRC program grant #301200 and Dr. Miller was supported by NHMRC capacity building grant #252977, both at The University of Queensland, School of Human Movement Studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Human Movement Studies, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Wendy J. Brown Ph.D., Kristiann C. Heesch Dr.PH. & Yvette D. Miller Ph.D.

  2. School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Yvette D. Miller Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Wendy J. Brown Ph.D.
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  2. Kristiann C. Heesch Dr.PH.
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  3. Yvette D. Miller Ph.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wendy J. Brown Ph.D..

Appendix

Appendix

  Lists of life events included in the analyses for each cohort
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Brown, W.J., Heesch, K.C. & Miller, Y.D. Life Events and Changing Physical Activity Patterns in Women at Different Life Stages. ann. behav. med. 37, 294–305 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-009-9099-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-009-9099-2

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