TY - JOUR
T1 - Life events and changing physical activity patterns in women at different life stages
AU - Brown, Wendy J.
AU - Heesch, Kristiann C.
AU - Miller, Yvette D.
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgements The Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, which was conceived and developed by groups of interdisciplinary researchers at the Universities of Newcastle and Queensland, is funded by the Commonwealth of Australia Government Department of Health and Ageing. We thank all participants for their valuable contribution to this project. These analyses were supported in part by funding from the Australian Government Department of Family and Community Services (Office for Women). Dr. Heesch was supported by NHMRC program grant #301200 and Dr. Miller was supported by NHMRC capacity building grant #252977, both at The University of Queensland, School of Human Movement Studies.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Background: The impact of life events on physical activity (PA) is little understood. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine relationships between specific life events and changes in PA in three cohorts of Australian women. Methods: Young (N=7,173; age 22-27 years), mid-age (N=8,762; 51-56 years), and older (N=6,660; 73-78 years) participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health completed surveys on two occasions, 3 years apart. Results: About one third of the young and mid-age women and one quarter of the older women were "active" at both times. Decreasing PA was associated with marriage and childbirth in young women and with declining health in older women. Increasing PA was associated with retirement and death of spouse in the mid-age women. Stressful events such as divorce, harassment at work, and violence were also associated with changing PA. Conclusions: There were significant associations between age-specific life events and PA changes. Understanding these relationships could inform interventions for preventing declines in activity at specific life stages.
AB - Background: The impact of life events on physical activity (PA) is little understood. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine relationships between specific life events and changes in PA in three cohorts of Australian women. Methods: Young (N=7,173; age 22-27 years), mid-age (N=8,762; 51-56 years), and older (N=6,660; 73-78 years) participants in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health completed surveys on two occasions, 3 years apart. Results: About one third of the young and mid-age women and one quarter of the older women were "active" at both times. Decreasing PA was associated with marriage and childbirth in young women and with declining health in older women. Increasing PA was associated with retirement and death of spouse in the mid-age women. Stressful events such as divorce, harassment at work, and violence were also associated with changing PA. Conclusions: There were significant associations between age-specific life events and PA changes. Understanding these relationships could inform interventions for preventing declines in activity at specific life stages.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70349562496&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12160-009-9099-2
DO - 10.1007/s12160-009-9099-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 19506989
AN - SCOPUS:70349562496
SN - 0883-6612
VL - 37
SP - 294
EP - 305
JO - Annals of Behavioral Medicine
JF - Annals of Behavioral Medicine
IS - 3
ER -
