Status of Participation in Physical Activity Among International College Students

Purpose: Although benefits of regular physical activity have been emphasized by numerous studies, several national studies consistently found that there was a significant decrease in physical activities during the college years (Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data, 2003). Often, the decrease in physical activity is more prevailing trends among the group of people with certain demographic background such as race. (Buckworth, Janet, Nigg, & Claudio, 2004; The National College Health Assessment, 2001). 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 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. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the status of participation in physical activity among international students attending colleges and universities in the United States.

Methods: Participants for the study were 521 international students from five universities in the Midwestern part of the United States. Of the 521 participants, 41.3% (n = 215) were females and 58.7% (n = 306) were males. The survey, which includes demographic questions of gender and country of origin, was used to measure international students' involvement in physical activities. The survey was pre-tested and the initial survey was modified upon the pretest results. Descriptive statistics of mean, standard deviation, and percentage were used. ANOVA analyses were also employed to examine if the participation in physical activity differs among participants' genders and origins.

Analysis/Results: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. Regarding the origin of students, the results of ANOVA showed that students from Asian and African countries spent a significantly less amount of time in physical activities than students from other continents.

Conclusions: 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.