Cultural beliefs and physical activity among African-American adolescents.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the association of cultural beliefs with physical activity (PA) among African-American adolescents.

METHODS

For a list of 42 leisure-time physical activities, adolescents (N = 116) indicated whether they believed the activity was 'Mostly a Black Thing', 'Equally a Black and White Thing', or 'Mostly a White Thing'. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was assessed using accelerometers.

RESULTS

Participants scoring in the highest quartile of Mostly Black score engaged in more PA and were less likely to be overweight or obese compared to those in lower quartiles. However, these findings were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSION

Further research to validate the association of cultural beliefs with PA is needed to inform health-enhancing PA interventions for this population.