title: Stages of change among ethnically diverse college students.
abstract: The authors applied the stage-of-change construct in the transtheoretical model to examine the distribution of Asian (n = 869), African American (n = 373), White (n = 1322), and Hispanic (n = 535) American undergraduate students across the 5 stages of change for exercise. Stage of change varied as a function of ethnicity. Higher percentages of minorities were in the precontemplation and contemplation stages. The likelihood of being in these stages was from 43% to 82% greater for minorities than for White students. Also examined were the congruency between stage of change and self-reported levels of physical activity. Half of the sedentary students and 15.6% of the active students were misclassified by the stage-of-change procedure. Misclassification rates were higher for minority women (27.8%) than for White women (17.8%) and for Asian students (24.6%) compared with all others (20.6%). The results of this study have implications for the design of physical activity interventions based on stage of change.
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, Columbus 43210, USA. suminski.1@osu.edu
authors.forename: Richard R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Suminski
authors.forename: Rick
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Petosa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data