Relationships among residence environment and individual levels of exercise in the Republic of Korea

Abstract

The present study explored the relationship among urban and rural residence living and level of exercise in the Republic of Korea. The study analysed the data from the 2012 Korean Survey of Citizens’ Sports Participation project with a total of 4,479 males and 4,521 females participating. The sampling method used the square root of the proportional allocation design with clustering and stratifications in such way that the survey sampled represented all the people of the Republic of Korea. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were carried out to examine whether residence was related to frequency, intensity, time and duration of exercise, adjusting for the covariate age. The results show that Korean women in rural areas had lower levels of exercise than their urban counterparts in terms of frequency, time, duration and intensity of the exercise. However, there was little or no relationship among exercise levels and place of residence among Korean men. In addition, Korean men and women in rural areas had lower levels of access to “systematic fitness management”, such as fitness instructors and exercise facilities.

Key words: Exercise; Republic of Korea; Residential area.