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Baby Boomers might not consider themselves as growing old but are starting to reach the last quarter of average life spans. This article asks how Boomers prepare for their fourth quarters through physical activity. Three years (1999–2001) of National Health Interview Survey data yielded 96,501 adult respondents. Dependent variables were moderate, vigorous, and strengthening activity. Old boomers (1946–1955) and young boomers (1956–1965) were compared to respondents born before 1926, after 1975, and 10-year cohorts between. SUDAAN multiple logistic regression adjusted for complex sampling structure and multiply imputed income. Age-adjusted, older cohorts showed greater likelihood of activity than younger cohorts, offsetting moderate-activity declines with age until sharp decreases at advanced age: a plateau across Boomer and younger-aged cohorts. Interventions should promote activity at intensities and frequencies to which Boomers are most receptive.

Age and gender effects in 10 physical self-concept scales for elite athletes and nonathletes were based on responses from 4 age cohorts (grades 7-10 in high school) who completed the same instrument 4 times during a 2-year period. A multicohort-multioccasion design provides a stronger basis for assessing development differences than a cross-sectional comparison collected on a single occasion or a longitudinal comparison based on responses by a single age cohort collected on multiple occasions. Across all 10 physical self-concepts there were substantial differences due to group (athletes greater than nonathletes), gender (males greater than females), and gender x group interactions (athletes less than nonathletes in gender differences). There were no significant effects of age cohort and only very small effects of occasions. Thus longitudinal and cross-sectional comparisons both showed that mean levels of physical self-concept were stable over this potentially volatile adolescent period and that this stability generalized over gender, age, and athlete groups.

This study reports on age-group differences in leisure-time sport and physical activity involvement among a large sample of Canadians interviewed at 2 points during the 1980s. Comparisons are made for 5 age cohorts, for men and women, and without and with multivariate controls. The results contradict the usual finding of an inverse relationship between age and level of physical activity. On measures of (a) activity necessary to produce health benefits and (b) energy expenditure. Canadians over 65 were as active as, or more active than, their younger counterparts, and their activities did not decline over the 7 years between interviews. The extent of change varied by age and across women and men. Among women, increases in involvement were greatest in the middle-aged. Among men, the greatest increase was in the oldest age groups. For both genders, the youngest age cohort showed the smallest change over time, and there was evidence of slight declines in activity levels among young men.