203481 Amount of self-reported exercise in a pretest-posttest sudy of college freshmen women and men

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Daniel D. Adame, PhD, MSPH, CHES , Department of Health, Physical Education and Dance, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Steven P. Cole, PhD , Research Design Associates, Yorktown Heights, NY
Sally A. Radell, MFA , Department of Health, Physical Education and Dance, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Thomas C. Johnson, EdD , Department of Health, Physical Education and Dance, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
The study examined self-reported physical exercise for 303 freshmen college students in fall 2008. During the 3rd (pretest) and 14th weeks (posttest) of a semester personal health course, 173 women and 130 men completed the Adame, Cole, Johnson, and Matthiasson Amount of Exercise Scale (ASREI). ASREI is a nine-point scale with scores that range from no exercise to 10 or more hours of exercise per week. There were significant decreases in amount of exercise from pretest to posttest for women (p < .001) and for men (p < .001). Exercise decreased for 49% of women and 46% of men. Men exercised more than women at pretest (p < .001) and at posttest (p < .001). Percentage of women with exercise less than 2 hours per week was 26% at pretest and 34% at posttest; for men, it was 11% at pretest and 22% at posttest. Percentage of women with exercise 5 or more hours per week was 37% at pretest and 28% at posttest; for men, it was 52% at pretest and 35% at posttest. Results from this study were compared to ASREI results for fall 2003. For women, exercise scores were higher in 2008 than in 2003 at pretest (p < .001) and posttest (p = .004); for men, exercise scores also were higher in 2008 than in 2003 at pretest (p = .001) and posttest (p < .001). These findings suggest that exercise is increasing among college students which may result in better fitness and enhanced health benefits.

Learning Objectives:
(1) Describe the 9-point Amount of Self-Reported Exercise Inventory (ASREI) employed in the study; (2) Discuss female and male differences reported on the ASREI by the subjects in the study; (3) Discuss pretest-posttest differences on the ASREI reported by the study subjects; (4) Assess results from the current study on measures of the ASREI to similar results collected in the fall 2003.

Keywords: Exercise, Adolescent Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a long time college professor and researcher whose research in fitness and exercise has been published and constitutes an on-going program of research at Emory University.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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