Race/Ethnic and Sex Disparities in Physical Activity

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DESCRIPTION (provided by the applicant): This project aims to examine whether and, if so, how race/ethnic and sex differences in vigorous physical activity, a health promoting behavior, result from disparities in social, economic, and cultural capital across several aging cohorts. Regular, vigorous physical activity, or exercise, is a significant form of investment in health, as it fosters better physical and social-psychological health and lowers levels of morbidity and mortality. Furthermore, race/ethnic and sex differences in physical activity mirror persistent health disparities in the U.S. population. Several objectives follow. First, the candidate will investigate whether inequalities in the costs and benefits of social capital shape exercise behavior across race/ethnic and sex groups. Second, he will examine whether disparities in various dimensions of economic capital, including current and accumulated resources, mediate race/ethnic and sex differences in physical activity. Third, he will elucidate the various dimensions of cultural capital that may shape race and sex differences in physical activity, net of economic and social factors. Finally, the candidate will use the Health and Retirement Study-a recent, longitudinal, panel data set that is nationally representative of U.S. adults aged 50 and over and that over-samples African Americans and Hispanics. This work is relevant to those interested in the social, cultural, and economic factors that shape preventative health measures in the aging and diverse U.S. population.