Increased physical activity and senior center participation

Promotion of physical activity is a major concern of senior centers (SCs). Elders may alter their lifestyles to increase such activity through SCs or not; but knowing the context is important. Data were collected in 2006 on 798 participants in 21 SCs in a large urban county. Measures included reported increased physical activity and participation in three types of activities at senior centers: physical fitness, dance/aerobic classes, and chair exercises. Additional SC measures employed were: length and weekly frequency of attendance, the SC as the major source of social interaction, and feelings about the importance of social interactions. Other measures were: whether physicians had told respondents to increase exercise and to control or lose weight. Demographic variables were age, gender, marital status, and living situation. Logistic regression analysis predicted increased physical activity, with modes of center participation as mediating factors. African Americans were more likely to participate in physical fitness, Hispanics less likely in physical fitness but more likely in dance/aerobics, and other nonwhites less likely in chair exercises. However, only Hispanics differed from whites, with less increase in physical activity. Participation in physical fitness and in dance/aerobics classes, but not in chair exercises, predicted increased physical activity. Longer SC attendance predicts greater participation in SC physical activities but negatively predicts increased physical activity. Although SC activities boost reported levels of physical activity, the relationship to SC participation is ambiguous: not all SC initiatives may boost physical activity, and longer-term participants have lower tendency to report increased physical activity.