Physical activity and sedentary behavior of US immigrant versus non-immigrant adolescents: findings from the NEXT Generation Health Study data

ABSTRACT

Objective: This study examined associations of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) with adolescents’ immigration status and language spoken at home and with friends.

Methods: Participants (N = 2475) were included from Wave 1 of the NEXT Generation Health Study, a nationally representative 10th-grade cohort study starting in 2009. PA included recommended moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and vigorous PA (VPA); SB included screen viewing and social-media use. Linear and logistic regressions were conducted controlling for complex survey variables.

Results: Adolescents with non US-born compared with US-born parents were less likely to engage in VPA (odds ratio = 0.60, p ≤ .05, 95% CI = 0.38–0.96). Parent country of origin and language spoken were not significantly associated with recommended MVPA engagement. None of screen viewing and social-media use was significantly associated with immigration status.

Conclusions: Recent immigration status was negatively associated with adolescents’ PA documenting an important health disparity.

KEYWORDS:

• Immigrant adolescents
• language spoken
• physical activity
• sedentary behavior

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This project (contract # HHSN275201200001I) was supported in part by the intramural research program of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and Maternal, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Administration.