Status of Participation in Physical Activity among International Students Attending Colleges and Universities in the United States.

This study examined the status of participation in physical activity among international students attending colleges and universities in the United States. Participants for the study were 521 international students from five universities in the Midwestern part of the United States. Descriptive statistics revealed that international college students spent on the average of 3.4 hours in physical activity weekly. ANOVA found that female international students spent a significantly less amount of time on physical activity than male students. With regard to the origin of students, students from Asian and African countries spent a significantly less amount of time in physical activities than students from other continents. Advisers, campus recreation staff, and health-related professionals on campus need to be aware of the findings of this study to understand the level of physical activity participation among international students and to promote a more physically active lifestyle among the population. ********** Although benefits of regular physical activity have been emphasized by numerous studies, several national studies consistently found there was a significant decrease in physical activities during the college years (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2000; Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data, 2003). According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2000), the level of participation in physical activity declines during young adolescence and the most rapid decrease has been found in the 18-to 24-year old age group. More specifically, while nearly 70% of 12-year olds reported engaging in vigorous physical activity on a regular basis, only 35% of 21-year olds maintained this level of physical activity. Furthermore, according Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data (2003), 62.6% of high school students in the U.S. participated in a sufficient amount of vigorous physical activity. However, the level of physical activity declines during adolescence so that about 70% of American adults are sedentary or inactive and are below the recommended level for health benefits (Booth & Chakravarthy, 2002). The decline in physical activity in adolescence and young adulthood is a disturbing trend because many adult health behaviors are established during late adolescence and early adulthood (Calfas, Sallis, & Nichols, 2000). Often, such trends are more prevailing among the group of people with certain demographic backgrounds such as gender and race. (Buckworth, Janet, Nigg, & Claudio, 2004; Mack & Shaddox, 2004). Mack and Shaddox (2004) found that 49.7% of male college students were classified as vigorous exercisers and 12.1% as inactive while 30.7% of female college students were classified as vigorous exercisers and 21.5% as inactive. The National College Health Assessment (2001) also found that the level of participation in vigorous physical activity was found to be significantly lower among non-Caucasians students than Caucasian students. According to multiethnic studies, African Americans and Asian Americans have the lowest amount of physical activity participation while Caucasian students are the most physically active group (Kenya, Brodsky, Divale, Allegrante, & Fullilove, 2003; Suminski, Petosa, Utter, & Zhang, 2002). Although some research has investigated the relationship between demographic variables of gender and race/ethnicity and participation in physical activity, these studies solely focused on the patterns of participation in physical activities of ethnic minority college students who were born in the U.S. and few studies have focused on international students' participation in physical activity. The number of international students enrolled in colleges in the U.S. significantly increased during past decades. According to Council of Graduate Schools (2004), in 2004, the total of 572,509 international students comprised more than 4% of the total undergraduate and 10% of the graduate collegiate population in the U. …