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HOME > J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs > Volume 26(3); 2015 > Article
Original Article
Health Habit, Perceived Health Status and Physical Health Status of Young Korean and Korean-Chinese Women: A Comparative Study
Young-Ran Lee1,*, Eun-Ok Im2, Sook-Ja Yu3
Journal of Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing 2015;26(3):312-320.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2015.26.3.312
Published online: September 14, 2015

1Seoul Women's College of Nursing, Seoul, Korea

2School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, USA

3Yanbian University of Science and Technology, China

Corresponding author: Lee, Young-Ran, Seoul Women's College of Nursing, 38 Ganhodae-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03617, Korea. Tel: +82-2-2287-1731, Fax: +82-2-2287-1701, E-mail: agness_lee@yahoo.co.kr
• Received: June 5, 2015   • Revised: September 3, 2015   • Accepted: September 23, 2015

Copyright © 2015 Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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  • Purpose:
    The purpose of this study was to compare health habit, physical health status, and perceived health status between young Korean and Korean-Chinese women.
  • Methods:
    This study was conducted as a cross-sectional comparative survey. For this study, 114 Korean women were recruited in Seoul, South Korea and 64 Korean-Chinese women in Jilin Province, China through convenience sampling.
  • Results:
    A positive correlation was found between health habit and perceived health status. Perceived health status, WHR, body density, flexibility, and muscle endurance were significantly lower in Korean women than in Korean-Chinese ones. Knee flexion and ankle dorsal flexion was significantly higher in Korean women than in Korean-Chinese ones.
  • Conclusion
    Further investigation is required to compare the two different groups that share the same ethnicity and similar culture but were born into different countries. A study such as this may provide answers regarding the influence of migrated transition on health.
  • Key Words: Chinese; Habit; Health status; Korea; Women
Table 1.
Socio-demographic Characteristics of the Subjects
Variables Categories Korean (114)
 Korean Chinese (64)
 t p
n (%) or M±SD n (%) or M±SD
Age (year)   20.8±1.57 20.3±1.32 2.04 .042
Height (cm)   162.0±4.90 158.3±4.54 5.01 ＜.001
Body weight (kg)   53.6±6.27 51.6±6.32 2.03 .044
Waist circumference (cm)   70.0±6.51 75.4±7.31 5.39 ＜.001
Hip circumference (cm)   92.6±5.26 92.0±4.33 0.74 .461
Religion Protestant 39 (34.2) 37 (57.8) 22.30 ＜.001
Catholic 22 (19.3) 1 (1.6)    
Buddhism 12 (10.5) 0 (0.0)    
Unaffiliated 41 (36.0) 26 (40.6)    
Table 2.
Comparisons of Health Habits, Perceived Health Status, Body Composition, and Physical Health Status
Variables Korean (114)
 Korean Chinese (64)
 t p
M±SD M±SD
Health habits (score) 63.2±14.81 63.9±14.11 0.30 .762
Perceived health status (score) 68.9±14.95 71.0±16.69 0.82 .044
Body mass index (kg/m2)† 20.4±2.22 20.6±2.57 0.56 .575
Waist hip ratio 0.75±0.06‡ 0.81±0.56‡ 7.32 ＜.001
Body density 1.034±0.01‡ 1.040±0.01‡ 2.91 .004
Percent body fat (%) 28.7±5.62 26.2±4.90 2.93 .004
Ventral flexibility (cm) 11.7±6.54 16.4±7.01 4.54 ＜.001
Power of muscle (kg)        
    Right hand's grasp 25.7±3.64 25.8±3.79 0.21 .833
    Left hand's grasp 23.6±3.83 24.6±3.78 1.73 .085
    Knee flexion 34.6±14.38 28.5±11.01 2.90 .004
    Knee extension 28.0±11.74 30.7±10.48 1.49 .140
    Ankle dorsal flexion 27.6±11.01 23.0±9.99 2.73 .007
    Ankle plantar flexion 26.6±11.52 26.0±7.84 0.36 .723
Muscle endurance        
    Sit-up test (times/min) 24.1±9.83 30.5±8.60 4.32 ＜.001

†Body weight (kg)2/height (m)2;

‡Marking down to two or three decimal places was used to show significant differences among the groups.

Table 3.
Correlations between BMI, WHR, Percent Body Fat, and Body Density
(N=178)
Variables BMI
 WHR
 Body density
 Body fat
r (p) r (p) r (p) r (p)
BMI 1      
WHR .47 (＜.001) 1    
Body density −.56 (＜.001) −.20 (.013) 1  
Body fat .56 (＜.001) .14 (.014) −1.00 (＜.001) 1

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      Health Habit, Perceived Health Status and Physical Health Status of Young Korean and Korean-Chinese Women: A Comparative Study
      Health Habit, Perceived Health Status and Physical Health Status of Young Korean and Korean-Chinese Women: A Comparative Study
      Variables Categories Korean (114)
      		 Korean Chinese (64)
      		 t p
      n (%) or M±SD n (%) or M±SD
      Age (year)   20.8±1.57 20.3±1.32 2.04 .042
      Height (cm)   162.0±4.90 158.3±4.54 5.01 ＜.001
      Body weight (kg)   53.6±6.27 51.6±6.32 2.03 .044
      Waist circumference (cm)   70.0±6.51 75.4±7.31 5.39 ＜.001
      Hip circumference (cm)   92.6±5.26 92.0±4.33 0.74 .461
      Religion Protestant 39 (34.2) 37 (57.8) 22.30 ＜.001
      Catholic 22 (19.3) 1 (1.6)    
      Buddhism 12 (10.5) 0 (0.0)    
      Unaffiliated 41 (36.0) 26 (40.6)    
      Variables Korean (114)
      		 Korean Chinese (64)
      		 t p
      M±SD M±SD
      Health habits (score) 63.2±14.81 63.9±14.11 0.30 .762
      Perceived health status (score) 68.9±14.95 71.0±16.69 0.82 .044
      Body mass index (kg/m2)† 20.4±2.22 20.6±2.57 0.56 .575
      Waist hip ratio 0.75±0.06‡ 0.81±0.56‡ 7.32 ＜.001
      Body density 1.034±0.01‡ 1.040±0.01‡ 2.91 .004
      Percent body fat (%) 28.7±5.62 26.2±4.90 2.93 .004
      Ventral flexibility (cm) 11.7±6.54 16.4±7.01 4.54 ＜.001
      Power of muscle (kg)        
          Right hand's grasp 25.7±3.64 25.8±3.79 0.21 .833
          Left hand's grasp 23.6±3.83 24.6±3.78 1.73 .085
          Knee flexion 34.6±14.38 28.5±11.01 2.90 .004
          Knee extension 28.0±11.74 30.7±10.48 1.49 .140
          Ankle dorsal flexion 27.6±11.01 23.0±9.99 2.73 .007
          Ankle plantar flexion 26.6±11.52 26.0±7.84 0.36 .723
      Muscle endurance        
          Sit-up test (times/min) 24.1±9.83 30.5±8.60 4.32 ＜.001
      Variables BMI
      		 WHR
      		 Body density
      		 Body fat
      r (p) r (p) r (p) r (p)
      BMI 1      
      WHR .47 (＜.001) 1    
      Body density −.56 (＜.001) −.20 (.013) 1  
      Body fat .56 (＜.001) .14 (.014) −1.00 (＜.001) 1
      Table 1. Socio-demographic Characteristics of the Subjects

      Table 2. Comparisons of Health Habits, Perceived Health Status, Body Composition, and Physical Health Status

      Body weight (kg)2/height (m)2;

      Marking down to two or three decimal places was used to show significant differences among the groups.

      Table 3. Correlations between BMI, WHR, Percent Body Fat, and Body Density (N=178)

      Table 1.

      Table 2.

      Table 3.

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