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Patterns of Leisure Time and Non-Leisure Time Physical Activity of KoreanImmigrant WomenJiwon Choi a , Joellen Wilbur b & Mi Ja Kim ca School of Nursing , University of California at San Francisco , SanFrancisco, California, USAb Rush University College of Nursing , Chicago, Illinois, USAc College of Nursing , University of Illinois at Chicago , Chicago,Illinois, USAPublished online: 11 Jan 2011.

To cite this article: Jiwon Choi , Joellen Wilbur & Mi Ja Kim (2011) Patterns of Leisure Time and Non-Leisure Time Physical Activity of Korean Immigrant Women, Health Care for Women International,32:2, 140-153, DOI: 10.1080/07399332.2010.508131

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Health Care for Women International, 32:140–153, 2011Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLCISSN: 0739-9332 print / 1096-4665 onlineDOI: 10.1080/07399332.2010.508131

Patterns of Leisure Time and Non-LeisureTime Physical Activity of Korean

Immigrant Women

JIWON CHOI

School of Nursing, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA

JOELLEN WILBURRush University College of Nursing, Chicago, Illinois, USA

MI JA KIM

College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Our purpose in this study was to examine the patterns of physicalactivity and demographic characteristics associated with those pat-terns in Korean immigrants in the United States. Participants were197 women, and the International Physical Activity Questionnairewas utilized. The inactive pattern was the most frequent pattern inall domains of physical activity except household physical activity.There were differences among the patterns of physical activity thatwere associated with variations in demographic characteristics.Health care providers who serve immigrants should assess physicalactivity level and demographic characteristics of the immigrants toenhance their physical activity.

The number of immigrants worldwide has increased due to an increase inglobal migration (National Intelligence Council, 2001). These immigrants areplaced at high risk for mental and physical health problems resulting fromimmigration, a non-normative developmental transition (Miller & Chandler,

Received 22 May 2009; accepted 20 April 2010.This research was supported by the Sigma Theta Tau Research Award (Alpha Lambda

Chapter). Manuscript preparation was supported by the Nursing Research Training Program inSymptom Management, Grant #T32 NR07088, National Institute of Nursing Research/NationalInstitutes of Health.

Address correspondence to JiWon Choi, PhD, RN, School of Nursing, University of Cali-fornia at San Francisco, 2 Koret Way, Box 0606, San Francisco, CA 94143-0606, USA. E-mail:Jchoi18@gmail.com

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Patterns of Physical Activity 141

2002). Immigrants experience acculturation, a process of adopting or main-taining attitudes and behaviors that reflect the heritage and the host cul-tures (Ryder, Alden, & Paulhus, 2000). Asian immigrants gradually adoptan American lifestyle, including high-calorie/high-fat foods in their diet andphysical inactivity with accompanying obesity (Huang, et al., 1996; Novotny,Williams, Vinoya, Oshiro, & Vogt, 2009; Park, Murphy, Sharma, & Kolonel,2005). To enhance physical activity levels among Asian Americans, there isa need to identify the patterns of physical activity and examine the demo-graphic characteristics that may be associated with the various patterns ofleisure time as well as non-leisure time physical activity. Therefore, in thisstudy, we examined the patterns of physical activity (leisure and non-leisure)and demographic characteristics associated with those patterns among AsianAmerican immigrants.

Korean immigrants, one of fastest growing Asian immigrant groups inthe United States, reported higher prevalence of hypertension than Koreansliving in Korea (Kim, Kim, Juon, & Hill, 2000). This trend of high blood pres-sure among immigrants is particularly problematic for Koreans, for whomcardiovascular disease and cerebrovascular disease are the leading causesof death (Korea National Statistical Office, 2001). One optimal way to re-lieve those risks is exercise (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services[USDHHS], 2006), but Korean immigrant women were found to engage lessin exercise than their male counterparts and the general U.S. women pop-ulation (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 1997). Koreanimmigrant women participating in a qualitative study believed that althoughthey were non-exercisers they were sufficiently physically active from dailywork, transportation, and household tasks (Im & Choe, 2001).

Leisure time physical activity, which often is interchangeably used as ex-ercise, is the most frequently studied domain of physical activity (USDHHS,1996). In contrast, non-leisure time physical activity, which is performed inone’s daily work, at home, or during transportation, has been less studiedin physical activity research, and the health benefits of these domains ofphysical activity are not as well known. Given that women are known toparticipate in more non-leisure time physical activity than leisure time phys-ical activity (Eyler et al., 1998), it is important to assess not only leisuretime physical activity but also non-leisure time physical activity to betterunderstand the benefits of physical activity in women.

In most reports of women’s physical activity patterns, people were cat-egorized as either meeting a certain amount of physical activity or not foreach domain (e.g., leisure time, job, household) and the associations ofdemographic and psychosocial factors with each domain were examined.Sternfeld and colleagues (1999) reported the characteristics of those whowere in the top quartile of each domain of physical activity including leisuretime, household/caregiving, and job, using the Kaiser Physical Activity Sur-vey (KPAS), which was adapted from the Baecke physical activity survey

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142 J. Choi et al.

questionnaire (Baecke, Burema, & Fritjers, 1982). In other reports of women’sphysical activity pattern, categories of leisure-time physical activity reflectedthe Healthy People 2010 objective (participation in moderate-intensity physi-cal activity at least five times per week and for at least 30 minutes per session)on duration, frequency, and intensity (Brownson et al., 2000; Wilbur, Miller,Montgomery, & Chandler, 1998). However, the criteria for patterns of non-leisure time physical activity varied. For example, Brownson and colleagues(2000) used the 300 minutes per week as a cutoff point for “regular” oc-cupational and “regular” household work participation, while Wilbur andcolleagues (1998) used 210 minutes per week for household physical activ-ity. Brownson and colleagues explained that the 300-minute cutoff point wasbased on the premise that usual occupational and household activities arelow intensity (about half the metabolic equivalent values of “regular” physi-cal activities), so that these activities need to double the duration to achievehealth benefits comparable with those of “regular” leisure time physical ac-tivities. Wilbur and colleagues explained that the 210-minute cutoff pointwas equivalent to seven times per week for at least 30 minutes per sessionof moderate-intensity activity. It is essential to identify patterns of all do-mains of physical activity and use the same criteria reflecting the HealthyPeople 2010 objectives to compare patterns of each domain. Physical activitypatterns in leisure time as well as non-leisure time physical activity are valu-able information particularly appropriate for women who are more likely toparticipate in moderate physical activities in their non-leisure time and haverelatively limited time for leisure time physical activity (Eyler et al., 1998).

In a large ethnically diverse sample of healthy women 20 to 65 yearsof age, leisure time physical inactivity was associated with older age, lowereducation level, lower income level, and having young children at home(Sternfeld et al., 1999). In Brownson and colleagues (2000), women whowere college graduates were physically active at work, and women whowere younger, married, and not college graduates were physically activethrough their household work. Transportation-related physical activity andits potential correlates were not assessed in either of these studies.

This study was guided by the physical activity model for Korean im-migrant women (Choi, Wilbur, Miller, Szalacha, & McAuley, 2008), which isan adaptation of Cox’s interaction model of client health behavior (IMCHB;Cox, 1982, 2003), a widely used middle range theoretical framework thatcan be used to specify multiple background and interpersonal variablesthat are potentially predictive of behavior. The IMCHB has been adaptedto guide a variety of prior physical activity studies including midlife Cau-casian and African American women (Wilbur, Miller, Chandler, & McDevitt,2003), older rural women (Plonczynski, Wilbur, Larson, & Thiede, 2008), andolder women with rheumatoid arthritis (Semanik, Wilbur, Sinacore, & Chang,2004). In this study, we focused on those background demographic char-acteristics (age, education, employment, annual household income, marital

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Patterns of Physical Activity 143

status, and number of children less than 5 years of age) thought to influ-ence both leisure time and non-leisure physical activity of Korean immigrantwomen in the United States.

Thus, our purpose in this study is the following: (1) to identify pat-terns for job, transportation, household, and leisure time physical activity inKorean immigrant women living in the United States and (2) examine the dif-ferences in patterns for their non-leisure time (job, transportation, household)and leisure time physical activity on associated demographic characteristics(age, education, employment, annual household income, marital status, andnumber of children less than 5 years of age).

METHODS

Design, Sample, and Setting

This study utilized a cross-sectional survey design. The sample and recruit-ment strategies have been described in detail in an earlier paper (Choi et al.,2008). Briefly, participants included Korean immigrant women living in alarge metropolitan area and midsized towns in the Midwest who were(a) aged 18–64; (b) born in Korea and immigrated to the United Statesfrom Korea; and (c) able to speak, read, and write Korean. Ethnic church-based recruitment, using key informants including religious leaders and laychurch leaders, mainly was used at six churches. In addition, participantswere informed about the study through fliers placed in local commercialestablishments and by word of mouth. A total of 221 women responded,and 200 were eligible. Three participants were excluded from data analysisdue to extreme scores of physical activities, with a remainder of 197 subjectsincluded in the analyses.

Measures

Demographics. The demographic items included age, education, em-ployment, annual household income, marital status, and having children lessthan 5 years of age. Education was categorized into five levels from mid-dle school to postgraduate education. Women were categorized as beingemployed if they indicated they were employed for wages full time, parttime, or self-employed. Annual household income was categorized into fivelevels from less than $10,000 to $50,000 and above. Higher scores indicatea higher educational and annual household income level. Marital status wasidentified as married or not married. Having children less than 5 years of agewas dummy coded into yes or no.

Physical activity. Physical activity was measured with the long form ofthe International Physical Activity Questionnaire ([IPAQ], Craig et al., 2003).The instrument had earlier been translated into 10 languages, and they are

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available online at http://www.ipaq.ki.se/. For this study the measure wastranslated into Korean using a modified committee method (Harkness &Schoua-Glusberg, 1998). Two bilingual translators whose primary languagewas Korean independently translated the IPAQ from English into Korean. Acommittee, which included these translators and the researcher (moderator),who is also bilingual, discussed discrepancies and agreed upon an integratedversion of the translation. Also, a group of three participants who met thestudy criteria reviewed the measure to check the appropriateness of thetranslations and to assess the ease of administration.

The instrument assesses five domains of physical activity engaged inwithin the last seven days with 27 items: (a) job-related physical activity (paidjobs, farming, volunteer work, course work, other unpaid work outside thehome); (b) transportation-related physical activity (travel from place to place,including to work, store, movers, and so on); (c) housework, house main-tenance, and caring for family (activities around the home, like housework,gardening, yard work, general maintenance work, caring for the family);(d) recreation, sport, and leisure time physical activity (activities solely forrecreation, sport, exercise or leisure); and (e) time spent sitting. Items re-garding time spent in driving in the domain of transportation-related physicalactivity as well as the domain of time spent in sitting were assessed for dataverification purpose only. For job-related physical activity and leisure timephysical activity, the frequency (days) and duration (minutes) of walkingas well as moderate and vigorous activities were obtained. The frequencyand duration of walking and cycling for transportation-related physical ac-tivity and the frequency and duration of moderate and vigorous activities forhousehold physical activity were assessed. When the test–retest reliability ata 3–7-day period was assessed, Spearman’s rho clustered around 0.8, indicat-ing reliable responses (Craig et al., 2003). When the validity of the IPAQ wastested by comparing it with a Computer Science Applications accelerometer,direct measure of physical activity, fair to moderate agreement was observed(ρ = .33, 95% CI 0.26–0.39; Craig et al., 2003). These results show that theIPAQ has acceptable reliability and validity.

The intensity, duration, and frequency of physical activity were usedin this study to define vigorous, regular, irregular, occasional, and inactivepatterns for each domain (Table 1). The patterns were designated to reflectcurrent recommendation for physical activity using modified criteria basedon Wilbur and colleagues (1998). First, the number of minutes spent forvigorous physical activity was summed for each domain of physical activity.The vigorous activity recommendation is 20 minutes per session three times aweek, which totals 60 minutes a week (USDHHS, 2006). Therefore, womenwho spent 20 minutes or more of vigorous physical activity for three ormore days in the last 7 days were designated as having a pattern of vigorousphysical activity for the specific domain. All moderate- (including walkingand cycling) and vigorous-intensity activities were identified and summed

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TABLE 1 Physical Activity Patterns†

Frequency per Total MinutesActivity Pattern Intensity week per week

Vigorous Vigorous ≥3 days ≥60Regular Vigorous, Moderate, Walk ≥5 days ≥150Irregular Vigorous, Moderate, Walk <5 days ≥150Occasional Vigorous, Moderate, Walk 1–7 days ≥60 < 150Inactive Vigorous, Moderate, Walk 0–7 days <60

†These criteria applied to job-related, transportation-related, household, and leisure time physical activity.The frequency and duration of vigorous-intensity physical activity was not assessed for the domain oftransportation-related physical activity, and the frequency and duration of walking for household physicalactivity was not assessed because of the nature of the physical activity questionnaire used in the currentstudy.

for women who did not have a vigorous pattern. Women who completed30 minutes or more of those activities for five or more times in the prior7 days are designated as having a pattern of regular physical activity. Thiscorresponds to the recommendation of the Healthy People 2010 (USDHHS,2006) that moderate activity occur five or more times a week for at least 30minutes per session. Women who completed 30 minutes or more of thoseactivities for less than five times were designated as having a pattern ofirregular physical activity. Women who had between 60 and 149 minutesof those activities in the prior 7 days were identified as having a pattern ofoccasional physical activity, and women with less than 60 minutes of theseactivities in the prior 7 days were identified as having a pattern of inactivephysical activity.

Procedure

This study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Boardat the University of Illinois at Chicago. At first contact, a brief explanation ofthe study was given to Korean immigrant women in person or in groups. Ifthey were interested and met the inclusion criteria, consent forms were givenor an appointment was made for the woman to meet with the researcherat a mutually convenient time and location. After signing the consent form,the participant received the self-administered survey questionnaire. The re-searcher was available to answer questions. After completing the surveyquestionnaire, respondents received $5 cash.

Data Analysis

One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests, chi-square tests, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to examine differences in demographic characteristicsby pattern for the job, transportation, household, and leisure time domains

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of physical activity. Post hoc contrasts were done using Bonferroni tests andMann-Whitney U tests.

FINDINGS

Demographic Characteristics

The mean age of the participants was 41 years old (SD = 10.96, range 20–64years), and the majority (83%) were college educated, had no children underthe age of 5, and were married. About a half (56%) of the women reported$50,000 and over as their annual household income. One hundred twenty-six women (64%) were employed, and 143 (73%) reported that they had ajob or any unpaid work outside their homes.

Job-Related Physical Activity

Of the 143 women who had a job or any unpaid work outside their homes,slightly less than half (47%) of the women did not participate in any job-related physical activities that were of moderate or vigorous intensity. Amongthose who participated in any job-related physical activities (n = 76), about32% of the women participated in vigorous activities on average 11 hours,68% in moderate activities on average 11 hours, and 79% in walking on aver-age 9 hours in the past 7 days for their job-related physical activities (Table 2).The numbers of participants for each of the five patterns of job-related

TABLE 2 Time Spent in Weekly Job-Related, Transportation-Related, Household, and LeisureTime Physical Activities

Range (min) Mean SD

Job-related physical activitya

Vigorous activity (n = 24) 10–2160 661.67 739.32Moderate activity (n = 52) 20–2880 665.29 755.54Walking (n = 60) 20–2250 543.83 593.99

Transportation-related physical activityb

Walking (n = 59) 20–900 174.97 207.96Bicycling (n = 2) 30–90 60 42.43

Household physical activityc

Yard/garden vigorous activity (n = 30) 15–480 114.67 117.60Yard/garden moderate activity (n = 70) 10–840 146.79 189.16Household moderate activity (n = 164) 10–1680 255.24 282.21

Leisure time physical activityd

Vigorous activity (n = 42) 15–450 103.69 88.94Moderate activity (n = 57) 10–900 148.60 150.23Walking (n = 90) 15–420 117.17 87.19

a n = 76.b n = 59.c n = 166.d n = 125.

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Patterns of Physical Activity 147

FIGURE 1 Number of participants at each pattern within each domain of physical activity.

physical activity are shown in Figure 1. The inactive pattern (49%) wasthe most frequent job-related physical activity pattern, followed by regular(26.6%), vigorous (10.5%), irregular (7.7%), and occasional (6.3%) patterns.

Transportation-Related Physical Activity

Only 59 (30%) of the 197 women participated in transportation-related phys-ical activities. All of the women reported that they walked for at least 10minutes at a time and averaged 175 minutes a week walking from place toplace, such as work, school, and store in the past week, and of these only twowomen used bicycles for their transportation (Table 2). Walking and cyclingfor a duration of 10 minutes or more per session were summed and identi-fied as moderate-intensity physical activity. The inactive pattern (78.7%) wasthe most frequent transportation-related physical activity followed by regu-lar (9.6%), occasional (8.1%), and irregular (3.6%) patterns. There was novigorous pattern for the domain of transportation-related physical activity.

Household Physical Activity

Thirty-one women (16%) did not participate in any of the household physicalactivities. Of those who did any household physical activities, 19% of thewomen participated in vigorous yard/garden work on average about 2 hoursand 42% in moderate yard/garden physical activity on average 2.4 hoursin the prior week each. Ninety-nine percent of the women who reportedthat they did household physical activity participated in moderate insidehousehold physical activity on average 4.7 hours in the prior week (Table2). The largest percentage of women participated in a regular pattern (32%),

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148 J. Choi et al.

followed by inactive (26.4%), occasional (22.8%), irregular (16.8%), andvigorous (2%) patterns (Figure 1).

Leisure Time Physical Activity

Thirty-seven percent (72/197) of the women did not participate in any leisuretime physical activity. Of those who did, about 34% participated in vigor-ous activities on average 1.7 hour, 45% in moderate activities on average2.5 hours, and 72% in walking on average 2 hours in the past 7 days (Table 2).The inactive pattern (46.7%) was the most frequent leisure time physicalactivity pattern, followed by occasional (21.8%), vigorous (12.2%), regular(11.2%), and irregular (8.1%) patterns (Figure 1).

Based on the current recommendation on physical activity (USDHHS,2006), the proportion of women who meet one of the following criteriawas assessed for each domain of physical activity: (1) 3 or more days ofvigorous activity for at least 20 minutes per day; (2) 5 or more days ofmoderate activity or walking for at least 30 minutes per day; or (3) 5 or moredays of any combination of walking, moderate activity, or vigorous activity,achieving a minimum of at least 600 MET-min/week. Fifty-three women(37%) in their job-related physical activities, 20 (10%) in their transportation-related physical activities, 65 (33%) in their household physical activities, and47 (24%) in their leisure time physical activities met the criteria. About 67%(n = 132) met the criteria for at least one domain.

Differences Among the Patterns in Demographic Characteristics

The patterns for each domain of physical activity were analyzed for dif-ferences in relation to demographic characteristics. There were significantdifferences in the patterns for job-related physical activity in means of age(F(4, 138) = 4.51, p = .002) and education level (p = .012). A Bonferronidifference of means test showed that the women in the inactive job patternwere significantly (p = .008) younger (M = 38.79) than women in the regularjob pattern (M = 46.24). A Mann-Whitney U test showed that the womenin the regular job pattern had higher education levels than women in thevigorous job pattern (p = .002).

There were significant differences in patterns for transportation-relatedphysical activity in means of age (F(3, 193) = 7.73, p < .001) and maritalstatus (p = 0). A Bonferroni difference of means test showed that the womenin the regular transportation pattern were significantly (p < .001) younger(M = 30.95) than women in the inactive transportation pattern (M = 42.8).About 36% of unmarried women had a pattern of regular transportationactivity, whereas 4.3% of the married women had the same pattern.

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Patterns of Physical Activity 149

No differences were found among the household physical activity pat-terns in any of the demographic characteristics. There were significant dif-ferences among the patterns of leisure time physical activity in means ofage (F(4, 192) = 5.57, p < .001) and having children under the age of 5(p = .028). A Bonferroni difference of means test showed that the womenin the regular leisure time physical activity pattern were significantly (p <

.05) older (M = 50.27) than women in the inactive, occasional, and vigorouspattern (M = 39.02, 40.19, and 41.25, respectively). In addition, there weresignificant differences among the patterns of leisure time physical activity inage among those who had no child under the age of 5 (F(4, 78) = 3.94, p =.006). A Bonferroni difference of means test showed that the women in theregular leisure time physical activity pattern were significantly (p = .003)older (M = 56.08) than women in the inactive pattern (M = 38.67) amongthose who had no child under the age of 5. Also, only 3% of the womenwho had children under the age of 5 had a pattern of regular leisure timephysical activity, whereas 12.8% of the women who did not have childrenunder the age of 5 had the same pattern. None of the women who had chil-dren under the age of 5 reported a pattern of vigorous leisure time physicalactivity, whereas 14.6% of the women who had no young children reporteda vigorous pattern.

DISCUSSION

In the present study, only 23% of women showed either a vigorous or reg-ular pattern of leisure time physical activity, while 37% participated in avigorous or regular job pattern, 10% in a regular transportation pattern, and34% in a vigorous or regular household pattern. Although the proportion ofparticipants engaging in either vigorous or regular pattern was low in eachdomain of physical activity, two-thirds of the women were physically activein at least one or more domains of physical activity. Likewise, when leisuretime as well as household and job-related physical activities were taken intoaccount, Brownson and colleagues (2000) found that 72% of a sample ofmultiethnic women was classified as being sufficiently physically active. Thefinding of the current study as well as Brownson and colleagues supportsthat exclusive assessment of leisure time physical activity may underestimatephysical activity in women in ethnic minority groups including Korean im-migrants. Leisure time as well as non-leisure time physical activity may needto be examined to provide accurate estimates of physical activity behaviorsamong women in general.

Although demographic factors are not modifiable in promoting physicalactivity, those factors create a unique sociocultural context that may increaseor decrease a certain domain of physical activity. Consistent with an earlierfinding with ethnic minority women (Sternfeld et al., 1999), the Korean

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150 J. Choi et al.

immigrant women with the vigorous pattern of job-related physical activitywere likely to be older and to report lower education levels than those withthe inactive pattern. These findings may reflect the typical first generationof Korean immigrant women’s employment status. Um and Dancy (1999)found that the majority of the first generation Korean immigrant womenliving in the Chicago area were employed in service, sales, and manual workthat traditionally require more vigorous and moderate physical activity thansedentary professional jobs. Although most of the women in the current studyreported having a bachelor’s degree, those who were educated in Korea andhad limited English ability might have worked in service, sales, and manualwork that required vigorous or moderate physical activity. Younger Koreanimmigrant women with better English skills may have worked in professionalor office jobs, which resulted in inactive job patterns.

Whereas married women showed higher levels of household physi-cal activity in earlier studies (Brownson et al., 2000; Sternfeld, Ainsworth,& Quesenberry, 1999), there was no difference in marital status by house-hold patterns in this study. These different findings may be a result of theuse of different concepts. For example, the investigators in earlier studiesassessed the amount of time spent in various household physical activitybehaviors, whereas we considered duration and frequency as well as in-tensity of household work. Time spent in light-intensity household physicalactivity, in which most married women report to participate, was excludedfrom the current study. In addition, it is likely that those who spent a largeamount of time in household physical activity were classified into the ir-regular pattern if they engaged in such physical activity not on a regularbasis.

The young Korean immigrant women, even those without children,were less active in their leisure time. In addition, women who had childrenunder 5 years of age were less likely to show a regular leisure time patternthan those who were without children under 5 years of age or with olderchildren. Due to relief from family responsibilities, older women may havehad more time to take care of their health and participate in leisure timephysical activity. On the contrary, younger women who have young childrenwere less likely to show vigorous or regular leisure time patterns, which areknown to have health benefits. Mothers with young children may have beenisolated, without family support systems that would allow them to participatein leisure time physical activity. The older Korean immigrant women seemto be reaping more benefits from leisure time as well as job-related physicalactivities. Because there was no difference among the household physicalactivity patterns, the young Korean immigrant women living with youngchildren are not even picking up more activity in household physical activityin the current study. Thus, the young Korean immigrant women who areliving with young children at home need more attention from health careproviders in increasing their physical activity.

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Patterns of Physical Activity 151

Women reported relatively less time spent in transportation-relatedphysical activity such as walking or cycling. Only 30% of participants inthis study performed any transportation-related physical activities, and thisis substantially lower than 68%, the proportion reported in a cross-sectionalmail survey with Massachusetts suburban dwellers (Troped, Saunders, Pate,Reininger, & Addy, 2003). In order to immerse daily life in physical activity,transportation-related physical activity should be encouraged while takinginto account their physical environment needs.

The physical activity model for Korean immigrant women (Choi et al.,2008) was supported in this study. We found that demographic character-istics including age, education, marital status, and having children less than5 years of age were important background variables for the patterns of non-leisure time physical activity as well as leisure time physical activity. Attentionshould be focused on identifying and targeting strategies to the specific chal-lenges Korean immigrant women face. Also, health care providers who serveimmigrants from different countries should assess physical activity level aswell as demographic characteristics of the immigrants to assist in enhancingtheir current level of physical activity.

There are several limitations in this study. First, data on physical ac-tivity were self-reported without an objective measure of physical activity.Responses may be subject to recall bias. Second, our results do not representthe Korean immigrant women living in the United States as a whole, and it isunclear if these findings are generalizable to Korean immigrant women livingin other regions of the United States. Despite limitations, to our knowledge,we are the first to examine the patterns of non-leisure time physical activity(job, transportation, and household) as well as leisure time physical activ-ity among Korean immigrant women and to identify demographic factorsassociated with various patterns of physical activity.

In this study, the inactive pattern was the most prevalent pattern ofleisure-time as well as non-leisure time physical activity except householdphysical activity. For household physical activity, regular pattern was themost frequent one. Thus, it is important to develop strategies to modify thepatterns of leisure time as well as non-leisure time physical activity (for exam-ple, irregular to regular) to increase the health benefits of physical activity. Inaddition, public awareness of the importance of leisure time physical activityas well as non-leisure time physical activity should be increased. Last, healthindicators (e.g., body weight, height) need to be included, and non-leisuretime physical activity as well as leisure time physical activity should be exam-ined to assess overall physical activity and to investigate the health benefitsof non-leisure time physical activity. Although this study was conducted onlywith Korean immigrant women, we suggest that Healthy People 2010 goalsin physical activity area might be achieved through physically active lifestylein leisure time as well as non-leisure time in women in general.

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