Behavioral, demographic, psychosocial, and sociocultural concomitants of stage of change for physical activity behavior in a mixed-culture sample.
OBJECTIVE
Examine behavioral, demographic, psychosocial, and sociocultural concomitants of the stages of change for physical activity behavior among college students in South Korea (n = 221) and the United States (n = 166).


METHODS
Measures obtained in this cross-sectional study included age; body mass index; nationality; gender; exercise behavior; processes of change; decisional balance; self-efficacy; stage of change; and predisposing, reinforcing, and enabling factors.


RESULTS
The amount of variance explained for stage of change by the transtheoretical model constructs (i.e., decisional balance, processes of change, self-efficacy) ranged from 11% to 29% (all p < .001), whereas the predisposing (2%; p = .052), reinforcing (3%; p = .06), and enabling (5%; p < .001) factors were not as important. In multivariate ordinal logistic regression analysis, gender (odds ratio [OR] = 3.3; p < .001), gender by nationality interaction (OR = .27; p < .01), weekly exercise behavior (OR = 1.04; p < .001), and behavioral processes of change (OR = 1.12; p < .001) were each significant concomitants of the stages of change.


CONCLUSIONS
In terms of physical activity behavior, South Korean women were more likely than South Korean men to be in the early stages, whereas American men were slightly more likely to be in the early stages than American women when all the concomitants were accounted for. Among the psychosocial stage of change concomitants, only the behavioral processes of change were found to be important.
Cardinal
Bradley J
BJ
Department of Nutrition and Exercise Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA. brad.cardinal@oregonstate.edu
Lee
Jong-Young
JY
Kim
Young-Ho
YH
Lee
Hyo
H
Li
Kin-Kit
KK
Si
Qi
Q
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003071:Cognition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*