Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #100022

James Swan, PhD, Applied Gerontology, University of North Texas, P.O. Box 310919, Denton, TX 76203-0919, 940-565-3454, jswan@scs.unt.edu, Mercedes Guilliaum, PhD, Health Sciences, California State University Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90840, and Robert H. Friis, PhD, Department of Health Science, California State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd, Long Beach, CA 90840.

Baby Boomers (born 1946-1965) will soon swell the elder population. Boomers appear to differ from current elders, as well as from younger cohorts. Of particular concern to elders their level of physical activity. Continuity theory suggests that physical activity in the aged is profoundly influenced by behaviors established earlier in life. This raises issues of whether the physical activity of Boomers differs from that of younger and older age cohorts. Data on frequency of moderate, vigorous, and strength-building physical activities were drawn from the 1998 National Health Interview Survey. Subjects were 32440 adults (weighted to population distribution) subdivided into: 9166 younger than Boomers, 13966 Boomers, and 9879 older than Boomers, further subdivided into seven age groups. As expected, each older cohort reported lower vigorous and strengthening activity than the immediately-younger cohort, although adjacent-cohort differences were generally not significant for moderate activity. However, when age was controlled, Boomers tended to engage more frequently than younger populations in vigorous activities. Older Boomers exercised more than younger Boomers; those older than Boomers exercised slightly less than Boomers, with no large drop until the oldest cohort (73 and over). Cohort effects somewhat counteract the effects of aging, with Boomers more likely to undertake some physical activity than younger adults, and perhaps slightly more than older adults. Interventions to enhance physical activity should take account of such cohort differences, recognizing particularly that Boomers tend more than other age cohorts to engage in physical activity, once the effects of chronological age are accounted for.

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