Award Date

12-15-2019

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Environmental and Occupational Health

First Committee Member

Timothy Bungum

Second Committee Member

BrianSchilling

Third Committee Member

Courtney Coughenour

Fourth Committee Member

Sheila Clark

Fifth Committee Member

Amanda Morgan

Number of Pages

107

Abstract

American adults spend at least 50% of their time sedentary with the most inactive demographic being low-income women over 60. This is detrimental because routine physical activity benefits for senior women include balancing hormones, maintaining bone mineral density, and decreasing the risk of breast cancer. Statements like “good exercise habits begin during youth; children should play sports to establish healthy habits they’ll continue throughout their lives” are common, but not clearly supported by literature. Objective: The purpose of this retrospective, cross-sectional study was to identify whether physical activity/exercise habits during youth and young adulthood predict old age physical activity/exercise habits in women of low socio-economic status (SES). Research Question 1: Do physical activity/exercise habits during young and early adulthood affect physical activity/exercise habits in female senior citizens of low SES? Research Question 2: Does participation in at least one high school sport affect physical activity/exercise habits in female senior citizens of low SES?

Participants completed a modified version of the Chasan-Taber Lifetime Physical Activity Questionnaire and a demographic survey (N=136). Multiple logistic regression was used to examine significant predictors of current physical activity level. Physical activity from the onset of menstruation to 21 years of age was a statistically significant predictor of current physical activity level [B=.0001; Wald (1) = 5.40, p

Keywords

Exercise; Females; Habits; Lifelong; Retrospective; Seniors

Disciplines

Public Health

File Format

pdf

File Size

1.7 MB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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