Life Course and Physical Activity

Physical activity is and important health-promotion measure for older adults.  Life Course Theory is one important way to understand participation in physical activity in varied populations.  In Life Course Theory there is the need to distinguish individual age from birth cohort and both from historical time.  We report on research using Life Course Theory to understand physical activity in diverse populations of U.S. adults over a ten-year period, employing 2001-2010 data from the National Health Interview Survey (N=268,985).  The dependent variable is engagement in requisite physical activity (30 minutes of moderate, 20 minutes vigorous, or 10 minutes strengthening activity) at least five times a week. Consistent with prior research findings, activity declines from the youngest cohort to older cohort but rises with boomer cohorts and again for cohorts older than boomers, finally dropping rapidly for the oldest cohort.  Activity declines steadily with individual age but less steeply the older the age. No secular change in activity is found over the study period, but a quadratic function suggests a u-shaped curve over that decade.  Gender and marital status show interesting patterns of interaction:  higher activity among married than unmarried women, lower activity among married than unmarried men, but the latter differential declining with age.  Overall findings depict complex patterns of differentials in physical activity over the life course, suggesting the need for careful focusing of physical activity interventions for different populations, accounting at least for age, gender, and marital status, and that such strategies will need to evolve over historical time.