title: Correlates of Physical Activity Differ by Sex and Country of Birth Among Mexican-Heritage Youth.
abstract: Barriers to physical activity (PA) may be experienced differently by sex and country of birth. We examine psychosocial correlates of PA in four groups based on sex (boy/girl) and country of birth [Mexico/United States (U.S.)]. 1154 Mexican heritage adolescents residing in Houston, Texas provided psychosocial data in 2008-09 and PA (number of days per week active for at least 60 min) in 2010-11 (N = 1001). Poisson regression models were fitted for each groups. Among boys, English language preference (pUS-born= 0.045, pMexico-born= 0.008) and higher subjective social status (pUS-born= 0.002, pMexico-born= 0.031) were associated with increased PA. Body image dissatisfaction was associated with decreased PA in Mexico-born girls (p = 0.007). Sensation-seeking tendencies were associated with increased PA among all groups; anxiety was associated with decreased PA among all but U.S.-born boys. Tailoring PA interventions to key sex-specific psychosocial correlates rather than country of birth may enhance efficacy of interventions to increase PA levels among Mexican heritage adolescents.
authors.affiliation: Michael and Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, The University of Texas School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus, 1616 Guadalupe St., Suite 6.300, Austin, TX, 78701, USA. Anna.V.Wilkinson@uth.tmc.edu.
authors.forename: Anna V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
authors.affiliation: Michael and Susan Dell Center for Healthy Living, The University of Texas School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus, 1616 Guadalupe St., Suite 6.300, Austin, TX, 78701, USA.|Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
authors.forename: Erline E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: National Human Genome Research Institute, US National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Laura M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Koehly
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, Department of Epidemiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Carrie R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Daniel
authors.affiliation: School of Human Ecology, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Michele R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Forman
mesh_terms: D000069:Acculturation; D000293:Adolescent; D001007:Anxiety; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Acculturation; Childhood obesity; Immigrant; Physical activity