Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Differences in Physical Activity

This study examines racial, ethnic and gender (REG) differentials in physical activity (PA), a significant input into health production and human capital investments. Prior studies have relied on leisure-time activity, which comprises less than 10% of non-work PA and does not capture specific information on intensity or duration, thus presenting an incomplete and potentially-biased picture of how various modes of PA differ across REG groups. This study addresses these limitations by constructing detailed and all-inclusive PA measures from the American Time Use Surveys, which capture the duration of each activity combined with its intensity based on the Metabolic Equivalent of Task. Estimates suggest significant REG differentials in work-related and various modes of non-work PA, with 30-65% of these differentials attributed to differences in education, socioeconomic status, time constraints, and locational attributes. These conditional PA differentials are consistent with and may play a role in observed REG disparities in health outcomes.