Correlates of physical activity in black, Hispanic, and white middle school girls.
BACKGROUND
A need exists to better understand multilevel influences on physical activity among diverse samples of girls. This study examined correlates of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among adolescent girls from different racial/ethnic backgrounds.


METHODS
1,180 6th grade girls (24.5% black, 15.7% Hispanic, and 59.8% white) completed a supervised self-administered questionnaire that measured hypothesized correlates of PA. MVPA data were collected for 6 days using the ActiGraph accelerometer. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to examine correlates of PA in each racial/ethnic group.


RESULTS
Hispanic girls (n = 185) engaged in 21.7 minutes of MVPA per day, black girls (n = 289) engaged in 19.5 minutes of MVPA per day, and white girls (n = 706) engaged in 22.8 minutes of MVPA per day. Perceived transportation barriers (+; P = .010) were significantly and positively related to MVPA for Hispanic girls. For black girls, Body Mass Index (BMI) (-; P = .005) and social support from friends (+; P = .006) were significant correlates of MVPA. For white girls, BMI (-; P < .001), barriers (-; P = .012), social support from friends (+; P = .010), participation in school sports (+; P = .009), and community sports (+; P = .025) were significant correlates of MVPA. Explained variance ranged from 30% to 35%.


CONCLUSIONS
Correlates of MVPA varied by racial/ethnic groups. Effective interventions in ethnically diverse populations may require culturally tailored strategies.
Kelly
Evelyn B
EB
Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
Parra-Medina
Deborah
D
Pfeiffer
Karin A
KA
Dowda
Marsha
M
Conway
Terry L
TL
Webber
Larry S
LS
Jobe
Jared B
JB
Going
Scott
S
Pate
Russell R
RR
D000054:Acceleration; D056044:Actigraphy; D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009043:Motor Activity; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012944:Social Support; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*