Adolescent physical activity and inactivity vary by ethnicity: The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health

Objectives: To determine the extent to which physical activity and inactivi ty patterns vary by ethnicity among subpopulations of US adolescents. Study design: Nationally representative data from the 1996 National Longitu dinal Study of Adolescent Health of >14,000 US adolescents (including 3135 non-Hispanic blacks, 2446 Hispanics, and 976 Asians). Methods: Hours per week of inactivity (TV viewing, playing video or compute r games) and times per week of moderate to vigorous physical activity were collected by using questionnaire data. Multinomial logistic regression mode ls of physical activity and inactivity were used to adjust for sociodemogra phic factors. Results: Large ethnic differences are seen for inactivity, particularly for hours of television or video viewing per week (non-Hispanic blacks, mean = 20.4; non-Hispanic whites, mean = 13.1). Physical activity (greater than o r equal to 5 bouts of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week, 5-8 metabolic equivalents) is lowest for female and minority adolescents. Ethni c differences are far greater for inactivity than for moderate to vigorous physical activity. Conclusion: Minority adolescents, with the exception of Asian females, have consistently higher levels of inactivity. Results vary by sex; males have higher inactivity and physical activity, whereas lowest physical activity i s found for non-Hispanic black and Asian females, although Asian females al so have low inactivity and low levels of overweight. Overall, efforts to re duce the problem of adolescent overweight should focus on increasing activi ty levels of adolescents, particularly female, older, and major minority su bpopulations.