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Show insurance companies (O'Neill & Reid, 1991; Sallis & Hovell, 1990). Study III, based on the available data in BRFSS, further explored the effects of gender, age, education, individual annual income, and employment status on an individual's physical activity. In Study III, sedentary lifestyle is defined as a respondent who engaged in leisure-time physical activity less than three times per week for 20 minutes per occasion. In other words, Study III focuses on those whose physical activities did not meet HP2000 objectives 1.3 or 1.4 or who did not engage in regular leisure-time exercise. In order to statistically control the effect of historical time on individuals' physical activity, tests for linear trends in the prevalence estimates of sedentary lifestyle were performed for each socio-demographic subgroup from 1985 to 1992, 1994, and 1996. The selected trend analysis method is appropriate for proportions obtained from categorical responses, as recommended by Armitage (1955). The results of chi-square tests for the trend analyses are reported in Table 1. The findings indicated no statistically significant increase or decrease in sedentary lifestyle in each socio-demographic subgroup during the past 12 years. Thus, Study III only reported the number and percentage of Utah adults, aged 18 or older, who reported sedentary lifestyle by socio-demographic subgroups in 1996 (see Table 1). Approximately half of adult Utahns (46.7%) were sedentary in 1996. People with a high school education or lower had a significantly higher percentage (51.2%) not engaging in regular physical activity than the college graduates (39.7%). People with annual income less than $20,000 were more likely to report a sedentary lifestyle (53.7%) than their more affluent and educated counterparts (45.0%). Homemakers, college students, or retired persons were less likely to be sedentary than their employed counterparts. Gender and age differentials in sedentary lifestyle were not statistically significant. In order to further investigate the socioeconomic status (SES) variation of physical inactivity, an additional trend analysis was conducted on the refined five income subgroups: (a) <$10,000, (b) $10,000-19,999, (c) $20,000-34,999, (d) $35,000-50,000, and (e) >$50,000. A significant decline of the percentage of persons who reported being sedentary from 1985 to 1996 only existed in the group of Utah adults with annual individual income higher than $50,000 (N=l,952, X2=13.51, df=l,_p=.OOO). The "better- off Utahns became significantly less likely to be sedentary over the past twelve years. Study IV: Effects of Family, Multiple Roles, Religious Network, and Health Insurance Status The focus of promoting physical activity should move beyond the individual level. Social encouragement or discouragement creates pressures on individuals to engage in or to avoid certain health-related behavior (Waldron, 1988). Family and friends can be role models, provide encouragement, or be companions during physical activity (Pate et al., 1995). Leisure-time exercise also requires an investment of time. People with fewer family and work roles/obligations are more likely to engage in regular exercise than those with more roles/obligations. Women experience more time constraints than men (Bird & Fremont, 1991). Given the same career commitments, women are more likely than men to spend their off-work time in housework, child care, and helping others rather than in leisure activities (Hochschild, 1989). Furthermore, religiosity, in the broadest sense, can be an indicator of social networking and community culture to which an individual belongs (Idler, 1987). Researchers have found a negative relationship between smoking and religious involvement (Dwyer, Clarke, & Miller, 1990; Gardner & Lyon, 1982). There may also be a positive relationship between physical activity and religious involvement. In addition, having health insurance may link an insured person to a health information distribution system and expose him or her to more health promotion information, including the benefits of physical activity. These hypothetical relationships between the likelihood of physical activity and household members exercise habits, an individual's multiple roles, a person's religious network, and one's health insurance status are tested in Study IV. The data for Study IV came from the third Utah household telephone health status survey2 conducted by the Utah Department of Health in 1996. Respondents, age 18 to 64, were selected for the analysis. The dichotomous measure of regular vigorous exercise was obtained from the following question: "Does anyone living in your household, age six or older, do vigorous exercise for 20 minutes at least three times a week?" (see the Appendix for details) The 1996 Utah Health Status Survey (UHSS) contains more household 2 It is a complex survey sample designed to be representative of all Utahns (Utah Bureau of Surveillance and Analysis, 1997). 38 |